I Carry Your Heart
by GloLightly
Summary: They'd lost each other before the earth fell to ruin, before the dead walked it's lonely streets, but the other was always in mind. It didn't matter how far Daryl wandered, or how deeply Eli fell, or how much land was between them. They'd find their way back, it was just how'd they'd live when they met again that was the problem. A Daryl O/C Story
1. Chapter 1

**This story is going to be close to my heart. All of my others have, but this idea has been sitting with me from the beginning, and I've just learned how to make the main character exactly who I want her to be. I really hope anyone that gives this a read will review and let me know if it's worth pursuing, if they'd be interested at all in what happens to these characters. Read, review and enjoy. Thanks everyone **

**Chapter One**

_**Daryl…**_

"_Ya just know we're gonna get in trouble for this right?" She had that worried look on her face. Why was she always so damn nervous now a day? Always. He never caught a break._

"_Yup… and the worst that would happen to ya is what?" He snapped at her. Ever since she started hanging out with Brett and his friends she'd turned into a big chicken. Someone they would've made fun of, or ignored completely… that's what she was. "Grounded?" He snorted in her direction, rolling his eyes, frustrated. "Uh oh, poor Eli's gotta stay in this weekend, sorry, she'll have to miss out on 'guy's night'." He mimicked, flicking back his imaginary hair._

"_Guys?" Her face turned toward his in anger, holding on to the post shooting up from the dirt driveway in front of them. The trees were overgrown right around the mailbox. One of the coolest things about this plan was they'd be able to say they'd been inside the house on Mill Road… they'd talked about it since they were little. "Daryl, don't know if you've noticed, but I'm not a damn _guy."

_Daryl dropped his eyes and muttered. "Yeah, I noticed, not like it's a secret."_

_Eli just pretended like she didn't hear him. She was always doing that. Whenever he'd get mad and say things he wanted to hear an answer to, she'd just shut up. Yeah, frustrated, that's how he always felt with her. She drove him crazy._

_And if anything ever happened to her stupid ass… well… even at age fifteen Daryl knew what that would mean. His stomach had dropped at the thought of it in the past. Other than Merle, well, Eli's the only one he'd miss if life tried to go on without her. He'd miss her so much… yeah… it made his stomach drop._

_She turned back toward him and frowned. "I don't think anyone's there… this is a bad idea." _

_He was freaked out, but there was no way he was gonna tell her that. "Shut up, it's fine, quit bein' a baby."_

_When he looked up to her she was so mad… he'd never seen her face that red. She was soooo mad…. "I'm not a _fucking _baby."_

_Daryl tried to swallow surprise. She'd never said that before. Eli hardly ever swore… and she never said 'fuck'… ever… she'd get mad when he said it. He felt a certain power when the word left his lips, it made his spine tingle… his smile was his own when he looked in the mirror and said it aloud. That word was his, his angry weapon he could throw when she made him mad… why was she taking it away? What was wrong with her these past few weeks anyway?_

_He just stood and watched her long hair sway behind her as she strode up the lengthy walkway. His eyes fell on the weathered door, the spray painted siding, the shutters nailed to the outside of the windows. He remembered what his brother had told him, suddenly and with nausea creeping up his throat. He'd gone there to get high with his friends, he'd "had sex with some slut there"… he'd come home telling Daryl about it… right before Pops heard them and come out of his bedroom screaming bloody murder… ready to kill them both just for talking past nine at night._

"_Wait! WAIT!" Daryl's voice carried down the long driveway. She turned her whole body around and stopped at the bottom of the porch steps. _

_Eli grinned and flipped him off, cupping her hand around her mouth and shouting, "Who's the baby now?!"_

_That was it. She disappeared inside, leaving the door wide open behind her. The gaping hole she'd faded into got bigger and bigger the quicker he ran to it. He knew right then, the moment her strawberry curls fell into the shadows… Daryl knew it then._

_He took a deep breath and followed her into the darkened house._

_**Present Day…**_

She wasn't afraid anymore. She'd decided against it in the beginning, and was desperate to keep that decision final. Fuck being afraid. Nothing she could do to change things… nothing. Do what you gotta do, _always,_ do what you gotta do to stay alive. Eli watched her young niece sleep soundly a few feet away from her. She had to hand it to Sarah, she was damn good at setting up a temporary blind. They slept soundly and out of the reach of walkers almost every night thanks to Sarah. And of course Emilie's lesson's. She could thank her sister for that too.

She missed her sister. Em's blue eyes invaded her mind, the way they squinted when she smiled. The way she sounded when she laughed. Eli always felt particularly proud of herself when she could make Emilie laugh. Em was always so serious, life was a bitch, and she treated it like one. So when Eli told a joke that made her sister _really laugh_… it was like cool water on a fresh burn. It was such a relief… it's no wonder she strived for it so often. Her own selfishness, nothing sweet or sentimental about it the way Eli viewed things. She was selfish, plain and simple. Relying on these memories of the good times to keep her from swallowing a bullet.

Then again, Eli wasn't quite the coward she accused herself of being. She would go to the end of the earth before just letting herself die. You make your own choices… _you make your own life… your decisions…. Your fault and your triumph… yours…_

It was getting cold, and they no longer had the protection of a home and other people. They'd lost both in the past 48 hours. The people… _their people…._ Robert's eyes entered her mind. The way they twitched underneath his lids when he kissed her. He never would've thought her eyes were open… but they were. Eli had never shut her eyes during a kiss in her whole life.

Except this one time… like most things… one time is always just different. Different from every other time you've done the exact same thing. Eli didn't even know what any of that shit meant, didn't know why she closed her eyes, or understand her own impulses. She hated him. Like, really _hated him._ Why was it she gave the best of herself to him… always? She never half-assed anything when it came to Daryl. Who knew when you were going to get him in the same mood he was the day before. Carpe Diem… Daryl Dixon taught you what that shit meant. What it meant to seize the day. You had to, living his life. Otherwise, what was the fucking point?

_**Daryl…**_

This place was unnerving, every tower a tall reminder of where they really were.

He didn't hesitate when he and Rick had stumbled across the prison in the distance, just opposite the pond that lay at their feet. Sanctuary, solace, peace… usually words you wouldn't associate with a building with bars across the windows… but that's what popped into his head. Those words.

Making it in wasn't an easy task. He and Rick worked together diligently on a plan, executed it perfectly, but it still took the meat right out of him. As he lay his head down on the cheap pillows that smelled of other men's tears and sweat, the only thing he could picture was what he laid his head on the night before. Dirt. A dusty, rock filled road, nowhere really. That's where they had been the past 7 months. Fucking nowhere.

Daryl's eyes fluttered, finally giving in to the exhaustion that had already taken his body. His mind followed swiftly, as he fell into a deep sleep…

"_I just don't know what yer' fuckin' problem is lately." Daryl spit out, fury dripping off the ends of his words. "A few months back you'd a' been jumpin' at the chance to go on one of these with me. It's an adventure." He shook his head, disgust filling his heart. "Yer' supposed to like em', remember? Ya used to anyway… what… is Brett such a pussy that he can't handle shit like this? Ya gone soft cuz of that limp dick piece of shit?"_

_Her green eyes found his, matched his intense blue. When she stared at him like that it always shut him up. He hated the shame he felt when she'd glare. He'd automatically know he'd been wrong just by the look she shot him. He'd never admit it though. That's something _Brett _would do… coward. Apologies were for the birds._

"_He's not a piece of shit Daryl." Her jaw moved from side to side. She was moving the food around on her lunch tray without taking a bite. He could tell she'd lost weight over the past few months, her collar bones were sticking out… so were her breasts._

_Maybe that was it. Maybe that was why she was actin' so different. She'd been moody and weird since she started lookin more like… well… prettier he guessed. That's the word that came to mind when he thought of her now a' day. Pretty. She _so_ was… but some things remained the same. Things about her he'd loved in the first place. Her long strawberry curls, wrapped in golden tendrils. They fell around her eyes when she got shy. He liked that._

_Daryl grinned, "Just a limp dick then?"_

_There it was, the sideways smile he was always trying to coerce out of her stubborn face. "Sorry to disappoint, but I wouldn't have any idea about that sort of thing." She sighed heavily, setting her fork down and glancing over to the table where all her new friends were. Daryl turned slightly to catch Brett and Kyle's eyes on the two of them._

"_The fuck they starin' at?" He snapped._

"_They asked me to sit with them today." She shrugged as her eyes fell to the table. "I said no."_

_It was the way she said it… how her eyes seemed to be filled with guilt because she sat with him instead of them… if she wasn't a girl he'd a' punched her in the face. "Well lucky me, Eli. Thanks for sacrificin' a whole half hour for me. Good for you, hope it helps you sleep at night." He continued to glare as she put her face in her hands. Daryl thought triumphantly that he'd made her cry. Good. She deserved it._

"_Go to hell_ _Daryl." Her voice was so low that he almost didn't hear her. He watched as she lifted her face. "Just so you know, nothin' about your comfort or popularity has anything to do with how well I sleep at night."_

_Eli stood then, knocking the table forward. Daryl almost fell out of his chair as she tore out of the cafeteria with force. He would have gotten up to follow her… he really would have… but Brett stood and raced after her before Daryl even had the chance to get his thoughts together. _

Piece of shit_. Daryl thought with malice in his heart. _Best-friend-stealing piece of shit… _All he'd wanted Eli to do lately was just stay. Just stay and listen… like she used to. _

_He used to walk up to her front door, amongst the beer cans scattered on the porch, and she'd bolt out after the first knock. Her parents never asked where she was goin', guess they didn't care. That's why they were best friends. Neither of their parents gave two shits about them. That's why she was so easy to talk to. That's why he could sit there with her, silence between them, and not feel weird. With others, his silence would make them squirm. They always had to fill it with some stupid joke or fact or conversation piece. _

_With her he'd be quiet and she'd let him. She always just let him be who he needed to be in the moment. He didn't want to lose her. Why was he pushing her away with every word? Daryl hated himself most moments of the day, but nothing like when he felt he'd disappointed the girl with the strawberry curls. _

_**Eli…**_

She had let Sarah go off on her own again. Eli was becoming soft. The girl asked for time alone and instead of insisting on her constant presence at her side, she'd just let her. The harder she fought her young niece, the more the girl hated her. She was so young, but she acted like she knew everything there was to know. Sarah would argue with the quick wit of someone twice her age. Eli knew she had Em to thank for that. Her sister would never raise a girl who wouldn't challenge authority if she didn't agree with it. Em would never raise a girl who wasn't her own person a hundred and ten percent of the time.

Thing was, Em was gone, and now Eli had to be responsible for Sarah. And Eli _was _Sarah. Needed constant control, to know every detail of every single thing going on around them. Sarah needed something Eli had always known she needed. To be valued. To know that other people, older… younger… whatever… knew how valuable her opinion was. No one was to talk down to her… not ever.

Eli completely understood. She also completely understood the trouble and pain this attitude could earn Sarah throughout her life. Eli had lived it, lived through the consequences of her own careless actions. Sure, she was lucky to be alive… right? Well, it didn't always feel that way. Sometimes the guilt and humiliation would threaten to swallow her whole. In those moments her skin would blotch red, her cheeks would get hot, eyes filling with tears she refused to let spill over to her cheeks. Eli would have to untangle the good things from the bad in those moments. Just so she knew there were still good moments to be had.

As she lay in her blind, waiting for Sarah to return from her first morning hunt on her own, his face entered her mind. The last time she'd seen him. That last time… what it had done to her… it was surprising any good thoughts still came to her in these quiet moments. But quiet moments… that's what they had together. When the whole word was loud around them, deafening, threatening to strangle the very life out of their veins… they'd lay down in the tall Georgia grass together. They'd create a straight line in the field behind her parent's home, upside down and cheek to cheek. She used to close her eyes and take deep breaths in, smelling every wildflower and grain of sand in a fifty mile radius. He'd close his eyes and breathe her in. She knew it. He'd never tell her so, but she knew it anyway.

She missed him. Eli had missed him for quite a few years before the world fell into ruin. It wasn't the end of the earth that was their undoing. It was every other bad thing that could happen, every single bad thing that might happen to someone, it'd happened to either of them. Both of them, or just one… and they'd tried their best to get through it. They were the kids from the bad end of town. One that tried her hardest to get out, the other who just accepted his fate as someone who'd never amount to much…

She felt ashamed that she'd ever believed that to be the truth. Daryl Dixon would always amount to more than you would expect. Always. Out of every person she'd ever known, he was the only man that never disappointed her. Never. He lived up to his word. He made promises he knew how to keep.

That's why she gave the best of herself to him. It's why she always would. If Eli ever saw him again, she'd let him know. Let him know how much he meant to her throughout her whole life. That without him… she would have died that day. That day at the house on Mill Road…. She'd have gotten lost inside of its walls, like the other girls that had gone missing in the few years before what had happened. If Daryl hadn't been there with her… She'd be dead. Bottom line. End of story. Daryl Dixon saved her life. And she'd never even thanked him for it.


	2. Chapter 2

**So this chapter is a little history on the two main characters, what this story is going to feel like from here on out. Let me know what you think, I really hope everyone likes it! Took me a while, and I love it. Happy reading and reviewing! **

**Chapter Two**

_**Eli…**_

The sun was hot against her bare skin as it cut through the trees. It never failed to wake her up as soon as it rose, demanding her attention. Eli reached above her, stretching out all the way to her fingertips, and leaned over to look at the ground a good 17 feet beneath them. Sarah was still sleeping. The sun didn't interrupt her dreams like it did Eli's. She snored quietly in her separate blind, her small Red Sox cap pulled down over her dark brown eyes.

Eli pulled at the tank top she had on, fully aware that the thin material didn't leave much to the imagination. It made her feel naked. Her jeans so worn that holes began to peak through at the knees, the shirt she'd walked in for almost a week now had started out as a dark blue, but now it barely passed as the same color of the sky on a cloudy day. She had four changes of clothes in her large brown bag. She kept her clothes, blind equipment, and small ration of food in that bag. When the two of them started out on this journey of survival Eli felt as though the large camping bag would topple her over. Now she wore it like a second skin, never winced at the weight of it. It made her feel light and dizzy when she didn't have the pack on, like she'd suddenly lost a piece of her.

"Sarah?" Eli whispered gently. When her niece didn't budge she broke a thin branch off of the tree and poked her in the side with it. "Sarah!" Her voice was full now.

The girl shoved the stick away and groaned, annoyance in her voice. "Ugh… what Eli? It's so _early._"

"I gotta wash up, change these clothes. I need you to tell me you're awake, need you to sit up and keep your eyes open for the next twenty minutes. Can you manage that?"

Sarah slowly sat up, rubbing her eyes and nodding. "Sure. Me next."

Eli nodded in agreement, feeling comfortable at the thought of Sarah staying in her blind until Eli was finished up. She quietly made her way down the trunk of the tree, her calloused palms helping her along. By now Eli's hands were nearly unrecognizable, torn up and constantly dirty. She remembered when she was barely a teenager, the thought of dirt hiding under her fingernails would send her into a near panic attack. Her need for cleanliness was borderline obsessive. It was strange, how unimportant all of it seemed now.

_Still, _She thought, approaching the cool pond just south of their blinds, _clean hands will be such a treat._

It wasn't too often they found water clean enough to bathe in. Even when they did Eli insisted on the examination of every inch of shoreline. She demanded to know if there was a bloated walker, water logged, waiting to poison them with the toxins that flowed out of them into the disguised pond or river. This led to them not being able to take too many baths. That and they were starting to run low on soap.

Eli ran the bar of soap along her legs, under her arms, over her belly. She scrubbed at her fingernails until the skin burned as red as ripe tomatoes. Once she was satisfied with the way she felt and smelled, she inched her way out of the pond, looking to the tree line. Eli never trusted silence. The absence of birds chirping or the sweet sound of cicadas made her skin crawl. Terror would swoop in and grab a hold of her, walking with her in tandem. She always washed up with her underwear and bra, cleaning them at the same time she cleaned herself. God forbid she get stuck in a pond, strangers lurking at her from the sandy shore, trapped. She'd wait to clean her dirty jeans and tank top until Sarah took her turn in the pond with the soap. She slipped into her cleanest clothes chosen from her giant pack. A pair of khaki shorts and a white t-shirt about two sizes too big. It hung off her shoulders, letting them poke through and get some color. Freckles littered her neck, shoulders, bridge of her nose. She always hated those freckles, and hated how much everyone else seemed to love them. Everyone always commented on them, telling her they gave her character. She didn't want character. Eli had always just wanted to be like everyone else. She'd never experienced that in her entire life.

The silence was heavy as someone standing on her shoulders as she made her way back to where they had just slept. The familiar anxiety and worry made its way into her veins as she started to move a little faster, looking behind her at every turn. Eli felt eyes on her, and although she couldn't prove a thing, she felt it, someone watching… it made her queasy.

"Jeez, take long enough, much?" Sarah's eyebrows were raised as she threw down pieces of tarp and poles. Eli caught them with ease, this being their routine, Sarah was the one small and light enough to take the blinds apart while maintaining her balance on the whichever tree branch swayed under her weight. She'd take Eli's apart, toss it down, and then her own. This process took about twenty minutes, but it was worth it. Peace of mind. The only way either of them would ever get any sleep.

"Alright auntie," Sarah wiped at her dirty face as she slung her pack on. "Let's go."

Eli smiled at the sentiment. Sarah hardly ever called her that anymore.

_**Daryl…**_

Daryl was sick and tired of this canned shit they'd been eating. He actually missed roasted squirrel, gristle and all. He was doing the same thing he'd been doing for a damn week. Just sitting there, leaned back up against the dark prison walls, wishing he were somewhere else. Not with other _people_… he'd actually grown to like the ones he was with… just _somewhere _else. At the local watering hole where he'd swing from the tree rope into the river below. The parking lot of the local pub at dusk, when all the girls that were too good for him were already making their way out, on to bigger and better things. They were beautiful to watch while they left. He'd end up with a girl he didn't want at the end of the night. He guessed that's the closest thing he could compare to being stuck in that hole of a Georgia jailhouse. At least he had Carol, Rick, Herschel… these people that made him feel whole again. It had been such a long time since he'd felt that way. Over a decade at least. Maybe the last time he'd held little Sarah in his arms… the last time he'd seen Emilie smile.

The last time he'd seen Eli wasn't a memory to make him feel whole. It was the moment he remembered in the darkest parts of the day, when all the lights were off and voices quiet, that last meeting replayed in his mind. The mistakes they'd both made, how much he wished he could take it all back. She had been his best friend. He'd loved her once, the only girl he ever loved, as a friend and otherwise. They'd fucked it up so badly, there was no going back.

And yet, when he wanted the thoughts in his mind to turn a brighter shade of blue, she'd still be there. Smiling her sideways smile at him. Leaned against his shoulder in the back of his brother's pickup truck, rolling down route 90. He thought of the time she tried lighting a joint in that truck with the wind whipping like a tornado around them both. He'd done his best blocking her body from the wind with his, tightly wrapping his hands around hers as she flicked the lighter over and over. When she'd finally gotten it they both laughed, held up their arms in victory. She blew the smoke in his face, giggling when he coughed so he'd put her in a faux headlock. It was enough to overshadow any bad memory… all the good ones he had to revisit.

He remembered when he had finally grown a set of balls and kissed the girl. She didn't expect it, which made him feel even stronger. Her knees went wobbly, her lips soft at the edges, her eyes fluttered closed. Eli barely closed her eyes when she slept, and yet here she was, head cradled in his hands. Her eyes shut to the world, and _okay_ with it, not frightened. Because Daryl was the man on the other end of that kiss. Yes, the good memories were always enough to revisit. Make the darkness in his heart feel a little less final.

"Hey," Carol's voice startled him. He looked up at her under hooded eyelids as she slid down to the floor with him. Sitting next to him she began to bite at her lower lip, nervous. "Herschel's doin' better… and the prisoners are still on their side a' the walls."

"Gotta wonder how long that'll last." He stated absentmindedly, think back to the couple of days prior. Daryl would never get the sound of axe against bone out of his head. They thought the old man wouldn't make it, but he was pulling through. He was tough. Quiet and kind and tough. Daryl respected him more than he'd ever say aloud. Watching Herschel go through this was like slow torture. He hated pain, the sight of it, the sound… no matter what kind of pain it was, he knew it. Daryl could feel someone's heartache from a mile away, bottle it up, and keep it for his own. He'd mastered stealing pain from those around him and hiding it from them as long as humanly possible. He could handle the world being a fucking mess, he knew ugly when he saw it. Other people, they just weren't immune like him, so why not absorb their bullshit? Why not try and help? In his own stupid, simple way… maybe he'd helped some of those he knew. Maybe.

"Ya know, moments like this one, they always make me wonder what's goin' on in that head of yours." Carol looked over to him, the same sad smile he'd watched her wear from the first day he met her out on the highway. "Got me thinkin' you're not as indifferent as you'd like to be."

He snorted at her quietly, shaking his head. This woman was always trying to figure him out. "Or maybe I just like it quiet."

"I don't think that's it." The slight smile still gracing her face. "You care, you just don't care enough to say it out loud."

Wrong again… at least a little anyway. "Alright, whatever ya say Carol."

"Even if I'm wrong, I know there ain't no 'quiet' goin on in there Daryl." She tapped him lightly on the head. "It's louder than anyone could expect." She gave his arm a gentle squeeze. "I'll leave you to your noise then."

With that she stood, brushed off the seat of her jeans, and walked out to the courtyard where the others stood. Figuring out what to do next. He stood moments later, adjusting his crossbow on his shoulders, shielding his eyes from the sun streaming in the doorway. He'd step out, help Rick, help anyone that needed it. In silence. He wasn't lying when he'd said that. He really did like it quiet.

_**Eli…**_

_Her cheek always felt warmest pressed up against his in the tall grass outside her parent's home. She imagined they'd be picking ticks off their legs when they wandered around to the front of the house seeing as how they were poppin' around like they were on a coon dog. The light shone brightest out there, florescent and harsh against the stars littering the sky. But for now they were here, surrounded by the cloudless pollen in the air, moon lighting up the sweat on their foreheads._

"_What do you think it was like up there?" Eli asked him quietly, pointing her finger up to the mass that lit up the field. "When they walked on it I mean, what do you think it felt like?"_

"_Well… they floated right?" Daryl shrugged, his shoulders bouncing against hers. "Probly felt light… weightless or whatever." They were in their usual position, straight line, upside down and cheek to cheek. They barely had to move their eyes if they wanted to look into the others. They could tell a joke and wait for the laughter in the other person's eyes that way, they always knew if the other was sad, or angry, or anything really… as long as they were upside down, cheek to cheek, in a straight line. Her secrets were his, and his belonged to her, and all was right with the world._

"_ELI!" Her father's voice echoed in her dreamy state, bellowing against the night sky. "Where you at, girl?!"_

_She involuntarily stiffened against the ground. Maybe if she wished enough she'd disappear into the ground, never to be seen again. If she were _really _lucky she'd drag Daryl along with her. Not like he had much reason to stay neither. He'd beg to fall into the depths with her. Anything, anywhere, was better than here. _

"_Shit, Eli, what'd ya do now?" He hissed, twisting his body and grabbing her hand, ready to take off in the direction of the woods that lined her property. Whenever her dad got real mad Daryl would bring her there. An opening in the patch of woods was their home away from hell. They set up the tent they had stashed underneath one of the fallen tree trunks and camp out. They had their flashlights wrapped up in plastic so water wouldn't damage them, and they'd spend those stolen nights making shapes out of shadows on the tent walls. He was going to take her there now. Daryl had simply heard her father and known she would need to get away for the night. Dad would probably stumble inside and forget she even existed eventually… until the next day when he sobered up. _

_Daryl always made sure she was tucked into her bed safely before her old man woke up. She'd press her hand against the window pane and wait until Daryl would match hers momentarily. When it disappeared she would be released from his safe grip and fall into her own pile of shit that was waiting. It was always waiting for her too. It never stopped_

Eli awoke in her blind, the sun demanding her attention as it always did, and could still feel the cloudless pollen in her hair. The summer moon in her eyes. She swallowed down the lump in her throat and begin the day. "Sarah… Sarah! Wake up!" Just another day.


	3. Chapter 3

**I love the reviews I've been getting, they really help me along with where I want to take the story. Thank you jeanf, for asking so many questions and being interested in the characters, I love seeing your name on my review page!**

**Hopefully this will answer a few questions about backstory, Daryl, Eli and Sarah. More to come, please read and review!**

**Chapter Three**

_**Three Weeks Later…**_

Eli didn't trust it from the moment the ridiculously giant gates shut behind them. The safety of their blinds, their woods, the quiet ponds they'd bathe in… all gone. They just walked into a 'modern day suburbia'. She thought of inviting the neighbors over for an ice cold beer, imagined barbequing with a faceless husband, discussing his many failings with the other faceless wives. Drinking martinis made incorrectly, but in the right glass, just to keep up appearances. The same feeling used to sweep over her when she'd go with Brett to the country club. He was a golfer. She hated golfing. It was so boring, who cares how much skill it took? It was god damned boring to watch… how it ended up on any one of the ESPN channels was still completely beyond her.

Then she met…_ him._ When he reached out and shook her hand with his bright veneers shining against the sunlight, she felt a little dizzy. He was dressed to impress, as far as now a day was concerned. He didn't seem to mind when she eyed him with suspicion. Even tried to convince her otherwise with words spun like gold. She wouldn't fall for it. Eli wasn't an idiot. This man they called the 'Governor', well, something was amiss. Something in his smile, the way it twitched on and off, how he used the word "safe" at least three times in every sentence he spoke, hypnotizing her vulnerable niece. Sarah didn't know, couldn't know, how dishonest he was. How he wore his deceit like a fine suit.

"I want to stay." Sarah argued, days later, while they were still in their 'safe space'. Everything in this place deserved air quotations. "There's food, a dry place to sleep, I won't have to build your bed every night." Her large brown eyes were pleading, desperate in their gaze.

"Listen…" Eli started. Sarah just held a hand up, silencing her with it.

"I know, there's always reasons not to stay." The girl stood up and began grasping at her belongings, shoving them roughly into her bag. "Foolish to think you'd listen to reason. My own damn fault."

With that Sarah left the small confines of their room into the communal bathroom on whatever floor they happened to be trapped. Eli sat on the clean bed, sheets that still smelled like the fresh linen she'd never known as a child. When she heard the door creak open behind her she had the apology ready on her lips, the explanation in the back of her throat.

All of it stopped dead inside her at the sight of him, his blue eyes slicing through her body like a sharp knife. She might have even stuttered, eyes wide, as she pushed up off the mattress. "This… how could? I mean… how could this… how are you here?"

His sideways grin looked as mean as it always had, though the falsehood of it was a little clearer in this world they lived in now. His daddy's meanness wasn't a poison that had stuck with him, no matter how much he wanted it to be.

"Hey there, Red." Merle's icy stare warmed for just a moment as her old, demeaning nickname fell from his lips. "Miss me?"

_**Daryl…**_

He didn't know what to do as he watched the sheriff fall apart in front of everyone. Rick had just learned of his wife's fate, of course it hurt, of course it would… but should the people see their president cry? Should their leader show weakness?

Daryl let him walk into that prison with his anger, let him do what he needed to do, and took care of the rest. After calling for some help and Maggie climbed on to the back of his bike, he felt a bit of relief. She was one of the people that seemed most like him. Silence wise. She didn't mind it, and she'd let him be quiet unless he needed to speak. It was nice not to have the pressure to speak unless spoken to.

They'd found the perfect place, the daycare off the nearest exit. Not completely raided of its formula and diapers, it was like a modern day treasure trove. Maggie ran down the hall and grabbed what she could while he kept watch… and in his watching his eyes found the small hand taped to the wall. A makeshift turkey, from what he could remember from school. They had you put your hand down on a piece of construction paper. You'd trace your hand, trying your best not to stumble over the knuckles on your fingers, and that was your Thanksgiving Turkey. That had always been Daryl's Thanksgiving Turkey. He repeated the third grade twice… three years of this tradition meant for younger children… and he reveled in it every year. When the turkey was given to him to bring home it never made it far. Daryl would tear it up on his walk home, past the city dump and the part of town where people yelled curse words from their porches. He'd finally start to feel at home when the woods were denser then the homes that surrounded him. And then another familiar dread would happen upon him, the kind reserved for his weeknights in the old Dixon homestead. Where just about anything could happen… just give it a couple of hours and a dozen or so whiskey and cokes later. Maybe a shot of moonshine or two… and his anxiety was as thick as a concrete wall. He'd been building that damned wall for his whole life.

_Sofie_, the tiny turkey hand read, the name scrawled haphazardly with a dark blue crayon. He reached out and touched it with his fingertips, feeling the waxy letters against the dry paper. Her eyes pushed their way into his mind, not like when she stumbled out of the barn, but the same eyes that sparkled when Carol would run her hand over her hair. When she laughed with Carl out by the fish fry. Those were the eyes the wanted to put in a tiny box, keep with him forever.

Once they'd gotten back Rick was still inside of those gray walls. Carl looked worried, Beth looked scared, and the baby was screaming bloody murder. He quickly handed the formula to Beth and took the new child into his arms, feeling her fragility against his dirty vest. Once the bottle met the little girl's lips she went quiet, her hand reaching up to her ear, drinking steadily. As they discussed names for the baby, Daryl watched Carl, sadness creeping into him at the sound of the fallen women's names on his lips. When Carl finally said the name "Lori" quietly, he could almost see the tears in the corners of the boy's eyes, but he was too stubborn to let them loose.

"How 'bout little ass-kicker?" Daryl blurted out jokingly. As the others laughed around them and Carl's glassy eyes faded, he felt strength that he hadn't felt before. He cooed at the child, calling her 'lil' ass-kicker'. And just like that, the nickname stuck.

_**Eli…**_

_Merle was ten years older than Daryl and about a hundred times meaner. She knew what he must have said to his brother when she wasn't in the room, teasing him about how his best friend was a girl, asking him if he'd 'gotten any' yet… like they couldn't be friends without some sexual aspect. Like they hadn't been friends since she was eight and he was ten. Like everything just had to be different now that they were growing up._

_Was it different? She could see the way Daryl looked at her now, eyes darting away when she'd catch him glancing at her chest sideways. At least he had the decency to look away. The other guys she spent time with would just stare, slack jawed, until she punched them in the arm are the stomach, reminding them exactly who's breasts they were ogling at. She hated being stared at by any man, it made her feel small, cornered. Daryl knew that, so when she'd see his eyes drift below her own, he immediately looked away. He would never want her to feel small. He was her best friend._

_Eli focused on herself in the Dixon's dirty bathroom mirror. She pulled her long curls away from her face and into a high pony tail, hoping to diminish the intensity in her green eyes. It didn't work. It just made the angles of her neck more prominent, her lips looked fuller. She let her hair down again and there they were, those eyes that everyone commented on, looking straight back to her. She was never comfortable in her skin, hated when anyone called her beautiful. She'd rather fade into the background, mesh with everyone else, go unnoticed until she felt like being seen. Always being on display was exhausting. Eli never knew how to own her beauty, it always felt like a heavy burden to bear._

"_What are ya doin' in there girly?" Merle's voice bellowed through the thin door._

"_Almost done, sorry!" She hollered back. Must almost be time for their old man to come back from his Saturday hunting trip. These were the only times she ever came to Daryl's, when she knew his dad wasn't home. He made her feel sick to her stomach with anger. She'd seen the deep wounds on his back week after week when they'd go swimming or he had to strip his shirt off due to the intense summer heat. They looked ugly and mean, just like his Daddy. How a person like Daryl came from a man like that, she would never understand._

_Merle was a little easier to figure out. Sure, he wasn't exactly like his old man, but it's like he _wanted_ to be. Like if given just the right amount of pressure, and he'd snap. Turn on everyone. Become the mean old prick he'd always intended. But something in him just wouldn't give. It's what made him at least a little bit tolerable._

_Eli made her way out of the bathroom and stepped straight into their living room/kitchen area. The smell of moonshine was thick the air, warm on Merle's breathe, as he stared down at her. "What were ya doin' in there Red? Gettin' all prettied up for my piss-ant brother? No need, the pussy won't touch ya. Too afraid of the big bad preppies that go to your shit hole school. Why ya been hanging out with them anyways?"_

_She tried to look around Merle, tried to find a way to catch Daryl in her sights. He was outside on his porch, waiting for her to join him so they could go to the swimming hole together. She glanced at the back of his shirt and saw a tiny spot of blood seeping through. The old man must have been drunk when he got home last night, beaten him again. Merle was too big now, and was rarely home to face the music anyway. He'd been living with this drugged out meth head downtown for about two years now. But he always stopped in to check on his little brother. Eli knew it hurt, to have him so close and so far away at the same time. _

"_Cuz I want to, cuz they're nice to me." She made her way around him and rolled her eyes. Merle gripped her wrist tight, anger in his voice._

"_Daryl's nice to ya." He practically growled at her. "I ain't around no more, and I thought ya'd keep an eye on him, but you too busy with those country club fuckers to give a damn, huh?"_

_Eli ripped her wrist away from his grasp as she made her way to the front door. "Why don'tcha ask yerself why ya need me in the first place? Fuck _you_ Merle."_

_His grin was mean as she stepped outside to Daryl. She grabbed his arm as she hopped off the porch, recognizing the sound of his Daddy's giant truck making its way down the dirt road. They ran in the opposite direction, into the woods made up of their dreams and secrets, laughing the whole way down to the shore._

She was dumbfounded, it was like someone had hit her over the head and she had stars or blue birds circling her like in children's cartoons. The lines in his face were deeper, the stubble that littered his cheeks had turned the same soft gray as the hair on his head, but his eyes were piercing blue. Same as it ever was. "How long has it been anyway girly? Nine… ten years? Somethin' like that?"

She couldn't make her mouth move, Eli had no voice.

"You gone lame or somethin?" He waved his hand in front of her face like she wasn't even there. "Hello?"

"Who are you?" Sarah appeared suddenly in the doorway. Her usually large brown eyes were narrowed in suspicion, lips pressed tightly together as she glared at Merle, daring him to take one step closer to Eli. _Just try it, see what happens._ Her face said it all.

"My name's Merle, little lady, pleasure's all mine." He reached out what should have been his hand, only there was nothing but a metal plated stump. Sarah's eyes grew wide at the sight of it, frightened of the man in front of her that had turned to monster in just moments. "Oh shoot, I forget sometimes about this thing. Scares most people. Truth is…" He leaned over, closer to Sarah, his voice low. "Ain't even scary til' I put the sword in this slot right here." He pointed to the pocket that only a large knife could click into.

Eli had heard enough. She stepped in between Merle and her niece, glaring at the man with new found animosity. "Don't go near her Merle, don't you touch her."

He put his hands up in mock surrender. "Okay Red, shit, don't shoot!"

"Don't call me Red." She turned and sat down on the mattress, dragging Sarah with her, although the girl seemed more curious than frightened now. She eyed Merle's stump, taking him in from his worn out dickies to the dirty shirt, unbuttoned down to the middle of his chest, an even dirtier tank top underneath. Sarah didn't know men like this. She had been too little to remember Daryl, angel winged vest, holding her in his arms. She used to put her hands on both sides of his face and kiss him under the eyes. It made him smile in a way that nothing else did. "Where's your brother?" Her voice almost inaudible.

"Daryl?" Merle shrugged, leaning against dresser with paint chipping off the sides. Nothing ever looked new anymore. "Dunno, bastard left me in Atlanta to rot. At least his buddies did. Haven't seen him since."

"Seems fitting." She stated, venom in her words. "Payback in a sense. I hope that hurt, by the way." She pointed to his stump. "I hope it hurt like hell."

"Ahhh, same sweet Eli. You'll never change will ya girl?"

"I wouldn't count on it, no." She had her arm around Sarah's shoulders, becoming increasingly more annoyed with her curious staring. There was nothing interesting about this man. He was trash, he was mean, he was the bastard that left his brother, not the other way around.

"And if we're gonna go ahead and throw daggers here, I'm pretty sure ya know what it feels like to leave Daryl Dixon behind too. You just as practiced at it as I am. So get off yer' fuckin' high horse." Merle sneered at her, real hatred in his eyes. She stared back as long as she could, but had to look away when his eyes turned into Daryl's.

"I'm gonna be sick." Eli shot up and ran to the bathroom. She could hear Merle's crude laughter behind her.

"Still got the weakest stomach in Georgia I see!" She was bent over the toilet and he kept laughing. "Some things never change!"

_**Daryl…**_

_The underneath of both her eyes were almost black from lack of sleep. He'd only been gone a few days, but it had been enough to break her. She never slept when he was out camping. Daryl would always come home to find Eli shaky and exhausted. "Hey," He spoke quietly. "How's things?" _

_She sighed, the weight of the world in her breathe. "Same."_

_Daryl made his way on to her parent's rickety porch and sat down next to her. The floor creaked beneath their weight. Eli looked down to his hand gripping the side of the deck where their legs dangled off and began pulling at his fingers. She wiggled her hand into his, lacing their fingers together, and leaned her head against his shoulder. He could smell the lavender shampoo in her hair as he leaned his cheek against the top of her head. "Ya wanna go out to the campsite tonight? Maybe ya can actually get a few hours a' sleep in?"_

_Her lip trembled, tears threatening to spill out over her pale cheeks. Daryl was startled and leaned back, looking her dead on. _

"_What is it? What'd I say?"_

_She cried then, hard and with abandon. Daryl didn't know what to do, so he just wrapped his arms around her shoulders and squeezed. He was trying to press all of the sadness out of her, or at least understand why mentioning the campsite would make her so upset. Her words came out in stutters and hiccups, "Pop went out there two nights ago, found all of our stuff." She wiped her face with the back of her hand. "He went through my journal, read about the campsite, and went out to find it. He says I can't hang out with you anymore, Daryl, he says you're too old for me." She stared up at him then, heartache so deep in her eyes that he was sure he'd never remove it. "I tried tellin' him we were just friends, I tried! He told me I was stupid, said boys yer age are only after one thing." She shook her head, "He don't know you at all."_

"_Too old?" Daryl was so confused. "I'm sixteen… you're only two years younger than me… we're in the same grade. And like you said," He glanced at her quickly. "We're just friends."_

"_He said it wasn't right, that I should have girlfriends, and shouldn't be hangin' out with nothin' but redneck boys." She grabbed at the elastic band in her hair and tore it out, taking some hair along with it. She didn't even seem to notice. "He's the one who brought me up around nothin' but redneck boys!" They were silent for a good long time as she caught her breathe, tried to calm down. He knew that they had at least an hour before her old man got home, he wasn't worried about anyone seeing them out in the middle of nowhere and reporting it back to her father. _Fuck him._ His thoughts were as dark as his whole life felt. She reached over and gripped his hand again, looking to him with scared eyes. "Daryl… he wrecked all our stuff. He found it and tore it to pieces, all our gear… he broke the bow you made me… right in half."_

_He tried not to feel it, but the familiar fury that came along with any thoughts of Eli's father began to rise like bile in his throat. His face got hot and his mouth felt dry._

"_Ow, Daryl!" He didn't realize how hard he'd been squeezing her hand until she cried out and swatted his arm. "Shit!"_

"_I'm sorry." He managed. "I'm sorry he did all that. I'll make ya another bow. We'll get more gear… somewhere. We'll find another spot." _

_She shook her head with vigor, staring hard out at the dirt road leading up to her driveway. "He'll find it. He finds everything and destroys it all just by being himself. I hate him Daryl."_

"_There's one thing that ain't gonna happen, so get it out of your head, ya hear me?" He placed his hand under her chin and made her meet his eyes. "He ain't gonna make it so we don't see each other. It's not gonna happen. Say it."_

"_He won't make it so we can't see each other." She responded, nodded at him. "It's not gonna happen."_

"_Good." He placed his arm around her shoulder again and let her lean into him. "Now ya just gotta believe it, and it will become the truth. Right?"_

_She nodded again. "Right."_

_That night she snuck out after her father passed out. Daryl was lying on his twin size cot, reading "The Art of Survival" by lantern light when he'd heard the gentle rapping on his window. He startled, dropping the book on the ground and squinting his eyes to see her standing there. Like an angel in the dark._

_Daryl pushed the window up. "What are ya doin' here?" He hissed. "Thought we talked about ya bein' careful so he don't put ya on lockdown. Don't ya listen at all?"_

_But she was just smiling. "I have something for you. Well, for us."_

"_What is it?"_

_She reached into the pack she was carrying and pulled out a large blue tarp, folded neatly and held together with electrical tape. "For our next spot. I found it in the basement at Brett's house and he said I could have it."_

_Daryl's nostrils flared at the mention of the yuppie's name. He was about to give her his usual ration of shit about the country clubbers, but her eyes were so hopeful that he quickly softened. He smiled slight at her, reaching his arm out to grab the tarp. After all, she'd come to see him as soon as she found an escape route. He doubted very much that she'd do that for any of her other friends. He was special to her. She was special to him. "My old man's out like a light. Merle ain't here… wanna come in?"_

_Eli smiled widely and grabbed ahold of his hands, he pulled her through the window with ease. He was getting stronger every day. Daryl already towered over Eli, and she wasn't a short girl. He tried not to pay attention to the heat from her hand on his belly, trying to steady herself. They were friends. He needed to stop seeing her that way. It was harder to do than anything else had been before, pretending like he didn't live for her visits, her lavender scent._

_Eli spent the next sevn hours squeezed in next to him on his bed, quietly giggling at their inside jokes and commenting on the various chapters of the survival book he'd emptied his change jar for. "We could do this ya know." Her voice was a whisper as his eyes began to droop. He looked up at his clock. 4:30 in the morning. _

"_Do what?"_

"_Live in the woods, like hermits, like hunters." She pointed to an illustration of a man sitting on a wooden log, using glass and the sunlight to make a fire. "We could do all that, never have to come back here. Never ever."_

"_Ya need to go home Eli, yer Dad'll beat ya blind if he's up in a half hour and ya ain't in yer bed." He didn't want her to go, but seeing her wince when someone touched her sides or her stomach (where that coward hit her so the bruises wouldn't show), made any selfishness he had slip away. "Come on, I'll help you out."_

_Her face got scared again. "I wish he was dead Daryl. Sometimes I wish it so bad it scares me."_

_Daryl's felt despondent as he let go of her hands and watched her walk back into the woods behind his home. "Me too." He whispered. She had just disappeared into the early morning air. He missed her already._


	4. Chapter 4

**My god it has taken me FOREVER to update and I know that. I think I'm just one of those people that takes a long time to write. It's sort of annoying, I know, but hopefully you all like the story enough for that to sort of not matter too much anyway. Here's to hoping! Lol.**

**Thanks for all of the reviews! As usual reading the reviews gave me ideas of where I wanted to go and who exactly I want certain people to be in this story. Please, if you read, review! It helps so much, and plus, it's just a lovely thing to look at when I log in Enjoy! **

**One more thing… season finale? WHAT? And we have to wait until October? AMC: you're evil tormenters. Sincerely, Glolightly.**

**Chapter Four**

_**Eli…**_

The noise coming from next door was overwhelming and intense. Merle and his merry band of men had gone out and found some more wanderers, wayward and such. Brought them back here for medicine and captivity. Sarah pressed her ear up against the wall to get a better listen as Eli stood in the doorway. This was their fifth day here, and Eli still hadn't figured out how to get them out. The Governor (such a detestable title for a man like that) kept saying it was their choice, but Eli knew better. None of the choices were theirs if they stayed here in this counterfeit village. He'd make them do what he wanted them to, with deception and charisma dripping off every word. She wanted to spit in his face, slash his skin with her hunter's knife, just to see if he'd bleed.

"Sounds like Merle knows the girls they brought in." Sarah whispered up to Eli, who continued to stand in their open doorway with a small compact mirror aimed around the corner. "How did he know you anyway?"

Eli shrugged. She had been cagey with information on Merle, her connection to him, with Sarah from the moment the girl had walked in to him standing in their room. That, coupled with the crushing weight of confinement, had started to wear on her young niece. Her words were frayed at the end, as if someone were holding a lighter up to them just to see if she'd catch fire. Eli knew eventually she would, _if_ they had to stay there. Time to have a talk with their fearless leader, make him realize they were leaving and that he couldn't stop them unless he killed them. She didn't imagine that would bode well for the man's image among the townspeople.

"Did ya hear that?" Sarah snapped Eli out of her own thoughts. "They talked that name you and Merle kept sayin' the other day… Daryl or whatever. Did ya hear?"

She tried not to show surprise, but Eli could feel her ears perk up and her face get red. Leaning her head against the wall with Sarah, she was interested more in what they were saying rather than what she could see. The muffled voices were like a ghost's whispers… the information sliding off of their tongues seemed impossible.

"Daryl stepped up, became a valued member of the group." A woman's voice filtered through the wall. Eli could imagine Merle trying to hide the relief on his face, like he didn't care one way or another… That was just another in a long list of lies the man had told himself over the years. That he didn't give a damn about what happened to Daryl… he was so unbelievably full of shit. "We got separated after the farm went up in flames… I haven't seen them in seven or eight months. He was with them though."

Daryl was with them… Daryl was alive somewhere close… had become a valued member of some group…

This wasn't real… it wasn't.

_**The next day…**_

Eli eyed the sinewy blonde that smiled sideways at their circus ringleader, their "captain", their president… saw how her blue eyes twinkled when he returned the smile with a few kind words. This was the woman that knew Daryl before, so she _had_ to speak to her. But watching her now with this man that Eli had grown to hate in under a week made that task seem impossible. Sarah was still in their room, quietly packing their items. After the long talk the two had the night before, Sarah was all but running toward the giant gates that moment, she wanted out so bad. The kid wasn't stupid, she could see evil when it was there. Her mother taught her that, to know wickedness when it was present.

Eli wandered down the street, toward the tank and army truck that the whole slew of men at brought back the night before. She remembered the blonde woman watching him, awestruck, as he gave his sleazy, politician like speech from atop the vehicle. Eli's skin was crawling at the same time this woman's was probably growing warmer at the thought of his hands on her body, his lips against hers.

There was something that wasn't right about these tanks. Run into soldiers in the woods that somehow get themselves killed, here's some free guns and ammunition without any cost or consequence, happy birthday to us? It was too good to be true. And from Eli's personal experience, things that were too good to be true usually were. She stepped closer to the large Humvee, taking in its size and stature, running her fingers along the door, when something caught her eye. Her fingers reached out and touched four separate bullet holes piercing the armored vehicle, shot at close range, maybe twenty yards or so. She saw the smallest evidence of splattered blood, a clean-up job done haphazardly, she guessed. It hadn't even turned the color of pennies yet, this blood was still fresh. Why would they have been standing in front of the Humvee when they were gunned down? The bullet holes told a different story then was fed to the crowd the night before… What was even fucking _happening _in this awful place?

"Strange, isn't it?" A woman's low voice crept up behind her as Eli shot around. She found herself face to face with the blonde's companion. There was a cape around her shoulders, the holster for a long sword strapped to her back, sans the sword. The dreadlocks she wore suited her face beautifully, chocolate skin perfect despite a few scars littering her arms. "Bullet holes where there shouldn't be. Wonder if he has an explanation for that too." The woman's eyes burned through Eli's, than fell to the truck behind her. Eli turned back to the vehicle, decided to risk it, play along.

"Oh I'm sure he does. Perhaps the soldiers were playing target practice on their own vehicle."

A small half smile snuck up the woman's lips. "Maybe the Governor accidentally shot off a few rounds right into the driver's side door, just a slip of the fingers."

Eli's insides grew dark and shadowed. She didn't feel like fucking around anymore, and she'd finally found someone that was on the same page as her, time to get things moving. "Or maybe… the Governor, Merle, and the rest of his henchmen found these guys out in the clearing and gained their trust…" Eli looked to her side, right into the stranger's eyes bleeding intensity. "And gunned them all down. Murdered each and every man in uniform to steal their guns, ammo and vehicles. Less men to share with, he wins."

The woman eyed her warily for a few more moments and then seemed to make a decision, eyes switching on and off. She held out her hand, glove covered and cut off at the fingers. "I'm Michonne. It's good to meet you… we should talk."

_**Daryl…**_

How could he explain the nervousness in the pit of his stomach, the electricity that seemed to flow out his fingertips? This woman in front of them with the superhero cape and bandana saturated in sweat was telling them they'd been taken. _Taken_. Maggie and Glenn both, just gone. No names, not even a description of the person or persons responsible for this deed… but Rick took her word anyway. Took the formula and diapers as an unspoken agreement: _You don't lie to me, and I won't lie to you._ Rick was far more trusting than Daryl could ever imagine being.

"Ya gotta at least tell us yer name before we go out with ya, lookin' for em'." Daryl sighed impatiently. "How we supposed to trust someone we don't even know who they hell they are?"

The woman looked back to him, indifference in the way she shrugged her shoulders, but eyes clouded with seriousness. "I don't know how you plan on doing it, but you gonna have to if you ever wanna see those two again." She adjusted and held her hand to the gunshot wound on her hip, wincing slight with the pain of it. "Plus, there's others there, others that don't belong. Others that need to get out."

"Who are these 'others'?" Rick questioned again. And again, the woman just stared at him hard and bounced her shoulders up and down.

As he and the Sheriff stepped away with Herschel coming up behind them Daryl couldn't help but express the tension he felt at the sight of her. "There's somethin' ain't right 'bout this Rick, it don't feel right… I think she's lyin' to us, she ain't tellin' us shit."

"Then how can she be lyin' to us?" The sheriff questioned, raising his eyebrows in Daryl's direction. When he didn't answer Rick just put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Bottom line is, she came in here with a bullet wound and a direct line to two of our own that are bein' held captive. She's offerin' to get us there, sneak us in and sneak us out. We gotta do this brother, you know we got to."

Herschel chimed in, a pitch to his voice that Daryl didn't recognize. "Yes, you do. Anyone willin' and able got to go." He swallowed hard. "Ya gotta get her back for me."

Daryl realized then that the pitch in Herschel's voice was what it sounded like when a man was worried about his child. No wonder he didn't recognize it, he'd never heard genuine concern fall from a father's lips. It would have choked him up if he wasn't so damn aggravated with the entire situation. "What 'bout if someone comes back here lookin' to cause harm? Who we gonna leave to protect Carl and Judith? You?" He pointed to Herschel, leaning with his one leg on the crutch. "Beth? Come on now, we gotta think 'fore we just go runnin' into the woods with nothin' but our good intentions."

"There's kids there." The woman spoke up, obviously in the middle of eavesdropping. "Kids, no bigger than yer' boy right now, some even smaller. It's dangerous, whether they wanna see it or not."

"Don't matter," Daryl pressed his lips together and shook his head. "Not our problem, not on our conscious."

The woman finally stood up, struggling and accepting a hand from Carol. Rick and Daryl stood stoic, watching. She took a deep breath in and let it escape her mouth in the shakiest of ways. When she looked up, she focused on Daryl directly. Speaking to only him, although everyone else could listen in. Like a secret, advertised to all, just so he would _believe it_.

"Would it matter to ya if I told ya the man who put this bullet in my side, the same man that took Maggie and Glenn hostage… would it matter if I told ya he wore a knife for a hand?"

"What?" Daryl's confusion made him feel foolish, but he had to know where she was going with this.

"A knife as sharp as my blade here, fits straight into the metal stump he got for a right hand. Told us a story about how he had to lop it off himself while he was locked to a metal pipe on an Atlanta rooftop. Likes to hit on women that are way out of his league? Likes to scare people?" Daryl's whole world seemed to open up as she spoke. "Goes by the name of… Merle, I believe it is."

Daryl stood there, dumb as a stone. Everyone was silent, waiting for him to respond. He didn't have words.

"He tried to kill me. Very charming man. Scared these two girls that are being held there too, although they weren't brought in as prisoners, that's just what they _know_ they are." The woman kept watching Daryl.

"Merle's there?" He finally blurted out.

"Yes, he's the Governor's 'right hand man'… pardon the expression." She nodded slowly. "I got a friend there, a few friends actually. I need help just as much as you do." She swallowed, her gaze softening for just a moment. "Please."

He knew they all were waiting on his answer. He didn't have one, nothing seemed right. Stay or go, it was all the same… something bad would happen no matter which road he chose.

_His eyes stayed on that door, worn in from years of children's hands and the Georgia heat. It was unbearably humid that day, so he had on his hunting shorts and a tank top that was anything but clean. If it had been his first year the other kids might have picked on him, but it wasn't. Daryl was ten, these little babies were only eight… he ruled the roost. Everybody knew it. _

_Daryl sat where he liked, made the nerdy kids copy notes for him (the kind of thing Merle would be proud of), and shot them all death stares if they mentioned his name or his family. All of em' knew what Daryl was, even Daryl. Last thing he wanted was them bringing it up all the damn time. _

_This was just another year, hopefully the last, he'd spend in Mrs. Cramer's class. She wore stockings with runs, her crooked bangs always stuck to her forehead with sweat, and you could hear her spit in the back of her throat when she laughed. But the worst thing about her, worse than her bad breath and bony fingers, was the way she watched Daryl. When she'd call on him for an answer and he'd just shrug, or stare hard at the ground until she gave up and picked another victim. Mrs. Cramer always gave him the same sad look, giving her head a slight 'isn't a shame' shake, before turning away from him. Lots of people did that. "Oh those poor Dixon boys, did you hear about how their father does this or that?" or "You know they lost their mother last year, needy little things, they don't have anyone to guide them at all. Not with that worthless drunk of a Dad."_

_He knew what people thought in this redneck town, that his family held the top honor as far as white trash. He was only ten, and he knew exactly what people felt when they looked at him… pity. He hated it. He wanted to spit in every one of their faces when they'd look at him with their gloomy eyes. They didn't have the right. No one should feel sorry for him. It made his stomach hurt. Fuck them all for thinking he was less than they were._

_So he sat, back corner of the class, the only empty seats in the class were right next to him and in front of him. The other kids acted like he wasn't there, and he preferred it that way. He barely noticed when Mrs. Cramer stopped her math lesson right in the middle. He was too busy drawing skull and crossbones on the corner of his desk._

"_Class, I'd like y'all to give a warm welcome to our newest student, just moved here from Lawrenceville. Can you say yer' name there sweetie?"_

_Daryl craned his neck to get a better look, but the fat kid in front of him took up at least half of his line-of-sight. Why'd his parents let him eat so much anyways? _

_He did hear a mumble, saw a young girl's foot twist back and forth uncomfortably._

"_Ya gotta speak up so the whole class can hear ya now." Mrs. Cramer's voice carried all the way back to him, bouncing off the walls, as if to make sure he was paying attention._

"_It's Eli." The girl squeaked out._

"_Eli, well isn't that a fascinating name?" Mrs. Cramer smiled sweetly down at the girl that Daryl just couldn't see yet. He could hear the snickers coming from the group of boys in collared shirts to the left of him. He dropped his book loudly on the ground, turned to pick it up and stared them right in the eyes. They looked scared. Daryl liked that. He gritted his teeth and hissed at them quietly, "Stop laughin'." He stated simply. No need to pick on a new kid. Fuckin' yuppie asshats._

"_It's uh… it's short for Elizabeth." The girl sounded shaky. Daryl begged silently for Mrs. Cramer to stop her public interrogation, no matter how good intentioned, and just let the kid sit down._

"_Alright dear, well we have limited seating here the classroom so you'll have to take one of the seats in back. Let me know if ya can't see and we'll have you switch."_

"_The back's just fine." She had a sweeter southern twang to her voice than folks around here. He'd never been to Lawrenceville, but he'd heard it was real nice. He listened to the click of her shoes as she made her way down the aisle to the left of him. She had to either sit in front of him or next to him. Either way he was sure that he'd scare her somehow. All the girls in class were afraid of him._

_She slowly came into view, walking with the slightest limp. Her hair was red and curly and wild, despite someone's attempt to reign it in with a barrette. She had a rosebud mouth… fuller, redder lips than he'd ever seen on someone before. But it was her eyes… they were so green that looking right at her seemed to blind him. She smiled sideways at him. He'd never looked away from someone quicker in his life._

_Mrs. Cramer continued her math lesson as Eli struggled to put her backpack on the rear of her chair. It looked awful heavy, and her arms were skinny and long. She couldn't manage it. Daryl reached over and lifted the bag easily, strapping it to her chair so it would stay. She smiled at him again and he nodded back at her, moving his eyes back to the drawing on the desk. It was no use. He tried for the rest of the class period to be indifferent to her presence next to him but he just couldn't. Perhaps it was the constant shaking of her foot, like she was real nervous. Or maybe it was how Brett and Kyle stuck their tongues out at her, tossing crumpled pieces of paper at her feet for her to read… and how she just pretended like it wasn't happening. Shrinking in her soft white t-shirt and jean shorts. He guessed though, that the most likely cause of his almost instant concern and awareness of her… had to be the bruises._

_As class wore on he noticed the first on the side of her thigh. Purple and green, like it was on its way to healing. Such a strange spot for a bruise if you had given it to yourself. Looked like someone hauled off and kicked her. She kept tugging at the bottom of her shorts to try and cover it, like she could feel his eyes on it, though she never looked away from the chalkboard._

_Next were the small bruises on her upper arm. Someone grabbed her real rough right there, dug their fingernails in. Probably shook her while they did it. His daddy did that when Daryl just didn't listen… and Daryl ALWAYS listened… so maybe his own daddy did it just to do it. Cuz it made him feel better… Daryl was scared of his dad…_

_Lastly, and the most startling of all, were the red marks at the hollow of her neck, near her collar bone. He could tell there was more underneath her shirt, probably reaching all the way down and meeting the other mean one on her arm. They didn't look like bruises… they were scars, new scars. He suddenly realized what they were and felt a little ill, finally turning away and watching the chalkboard just like she did._

_They were old cigarette burns. They were too perfectly circular, too small to be anything else. Who would do that to a girl her size, someone as pretty and quiet as she seemed to be? Who?_

_After that first day of class he watched her leave the school and head down the same road he walked. It would lead them both to the railroad tracks that brought him home. He stayed a good twenty feet behind her, not wanting to freak her out. Eli walked on, but when she met the tracks she turned the same way he was going to… now it would definitely look like he was following her. He stopped, to let her get even more of a lead so he wouldn't frighten her… but when he stopped she did too. They both just stood there, motionless. Daryl stared at her back, watched her fingers mess with the straps of her backpack nervously, until she finally turned to face him. She was even scrawnier looking from so far away._

"_Well, ya comin' or what?" She hollered out to him. Eli shifted her weight from foot to foot, waiting for his response… he didn't even know what to say._

"_I thought… I just thought I'd give ya a lead… so…"_

"_I wouldn't think ya were followin' me?" She took a few steps towards him. Even from this distance her green eyes burned into him, made him feel uneasy. _

"_Yeah. I didn't wanna spook ya." He watched her as she continued in his direction. He didn't move._

"_Do I seem to spook easy or somethin'? Ya don't even know me." She cocked her head at him, confused. Her small heart shaped face fit her perfectly. She was gonna be real pretty when she grew up, he could tell._

_They were quiet again, taking each other in. She advanced on him again, stopping just a few short feet away. That's when she stuck her hand out and smiled. A full smile, not a half-way one like earlier. This one was real, she seemed happy to have someone to talk to. The whole thing felt foreign to Daryl… he didn't understand._

"_Name's Eli." Daryl took her hand in his and lightly shook it. When he went to pull away she squeezed a little tighter, not letting him go. "This is the part where you tell me yers."_

"_Daryl… Daryl Dixon." She released him then, her smile fading._

"_I seen yer family's road. It's closer to school than mine is." She shrugged, looking a little scared._

"_Ya live close to me?" He was bewildered. "The houses down past mine are all the same… they look just like mine too." They both began down the railroad tracks. "Ya don't seem like the type to live in a moonshiner's still… I thought ya were from Lawrenceville."_

"_I was… I am." She shrugged her backpack higher on her shoulders, reaching down and tugging on her shorts again. "My mama and daddy got a divorce… and I was sent here to live with my dad." She looked toward the tree-line and continued quietly. "My mama's new boyfriend, well, he don't like kids much. Told her I wouldn't get in the way, but she didn't listen. So here I am."_

"_My mom died last year in our old house." Daryl didn't know why he was telling her this, but it was falling out of his mouth and he couldn't stop it. Felt good to talk about it out loud… like maybe someone like her would get it. "She fell asleep with a cigarette in her hand. Burned the whole house down too. We used to live in a bigger place 'fore that. Now we live in a still… like you."_

_They were quiet again, a good ten minutes went by before reaching Daryl's road. The large sign reading "Dixon" in Merle's sloppy handwriting nailed to a tree. _

"_I'd better get goin'… it was nice meetin' ya." She turned on her heel to walk further along the tracks. As Daryl watched her the road she was traveling seemed to darken, and he had the overwhelming feeling like he shouldn't let her walk on her own. He jogged up to her._

"_Want me to walk ya the rest a the way?" He questioned. She looked up at him and smiled that big smile again._

"_Yeah, you'll know where I live cuz a that… it'll be nice to know someone 'round here." She looked down to her feet as they both continued walking. "I get the feelin' folks in town aren't too friendly, especially to people who live out here… in the woods I mean."_

"_Well yer right, they ain't. They hate me. Those guys in class?" Daryl watched her shrink again, embarrassed that he had watched that happen. "Hey, don't worry about it okay? They're jerks… they're worse than jerks actually… they're _country clubbers."

_That was the first time he heard it. That sweet laugh of hers. She leaned her head back and let it loose, kicking rocks beneath her feet. "Country clubbers… what's that even like?"_

"_Beats me. I don't wanna even know." Daryl spit on the ground. "They suck, they're mean. Not like you… you seem real nice." He let out a slight smile at her. "Don't pay no mind to those guys." He loved how she watched him. She didn't seem sad at all._

_Until they reached her road. It was the last one on the tracks, so Daryl knew just which house she lived in… it was even worse than his. When she looked at her sign, with whatever last name was there previously scratched out, her sweet face drooped, her eyes closed, and she took in a deep breath. When she opened them again she was looking right in his, in a way that frightened him._

"_I know what you saw in class today. I know what ya were lookin' at." Daryl looked away from her and stared down the dirt path that would take her home. "Can ya do somethin' for me?"_

"_Yes." He meant it._

"_Don't tell nobody. I usually wear other clothes, bigger or baggier or whatever ya wanna call it." She grabbed his hand suddenly, too quickly for him to pull away, and squeezed his first two fingers tight. "Promise me ya won't."_

"_I promise."_


	5. Chapter 5

**Thank you to the readers who were able to review! I love hearing what you think and I'm loving writing this story right now.**

**Chapter Five**

_**Eli…**_

She knew that Sarah was out there on her own right now, and that thought hurt more than anything else she'd experienced in the past twenty four hours. Eli didn't know whose cries were coming from the rooms that seemed to surround her… all she knew she was inside of a nightmare that was impossible to escape.

She wanted to rewind to the moment he stepped up to her outside the gates. She peered through the gaps in the wood and metal, wishing she'd see Merle return without a drop of blood on him, telling the Governor, "Sorry, just couldn't bag her, she got away." But even if that were the truth Eli would never hear it. Merle wouldn't tell the old gov that truth, he'd keep it hidden, like all the other good parts of himself. As Eli scanned the road covered in scattered leaves like toys on a child's bedspread, the man snuck up behind her, quiet as a thief. She hadn't heard anything until his low voice startled her into bouncing her forehead off the gate. "Lookin' for somethin' in particular there darlin?"

Eli pressed her palm against the red mark on her head, cursing. "_Don't do that!"_ She seethed at him.

"Seems like you and I oughta have us a little chat, don'tchu think?" His veneers twinkled against the late afternoon sun. There was just no way were those perfect teeth real, Eli called bullshit.

She glared at him, hatred sliding from her pores. "As it stands right now, no. We don't got nothin' to discuss. Just… ya should just let me and my niece leave. There's no reason to keep us here."

"Well sure there is!" He replied, smiling. "It's safe here. Don'tchu want little Sarah to be safe?"

"Don't say her name… and it's not safe here and I know it." She took a step closer to him. He smelled like fresh soap and leather… she didn't realize the combination would smell so poisonous. "Which part of Michonne did ya tell Merle to bring back hmm?" She smiled grimly up at him, watched his eyes darken and the corners of his mouth turn down. "Her hands… her feet… maybe her head? Lord knows ya probably want it bad enough."

He stayed silent, eyes clouded with thoughts she would never want to hear.

She went on, dismissing the consequences of her words as she usually did. Whatever happens, happens. She just wanted out. "Listen man, I _know _all about you. I _know _you're a wolf with rabies, a bad seed… I can see it in your black eyes. I've seen it before in other men that meant more to me than you do. You don't scare me, _Governor._ Just open these fuckin' gates and let me and my family go."

He startled her, gripping her arm with his hand roughly, practically picking her up off the ground. His hands were large, she hadn't realized just how large, until one was wrapped completely around her upper arm. "You ain't goin' anywhere girly."

It was her own stupid fault she sat there, tied to the chair in this dungeon, with a headache to beat the ages and a fear of never seeing Sarah again. Her presumptuous nature, her smug attitude. Why didn't she just go along with it until they found an easier, sneakier way out? Why did she always have to press men's buttons until they wanted to throttle her, throw her against a damn concrete wall? Of course Eli knew the answers to these questions lied with her father in his shallow, unmarked grave. He turned her into this person with his fists and his words. He'd taken her sweet nature and crushed it out with every strike. He'd turned her to stone and relished in every god damn moment of her suffering.

She heard the door squeak open, the cries of pain from down the dingy hallway louder for just a moment before it shut again. She didn't look up. Eli didn't want to know which one of them was paying her a visit this time.

"Yer stubborn as an ox, ya know that?"

Her eyes shot up and narrowed on Merle's icy blue stare. "Fuck you." She whispered.

He shook his head, running his rough hand over his face in frustration. "Eli, if ya don't cooperate he'll keep on hittin ya, shit, he'll probably do worse."

"Ya mean like ya did to Michonne? Worse like that?" She was practically spitting anger. She wanted to rip out his throat, watch him drown in his own blood.

"Yes." Merle's voice sounded smaller than usual, his eyes looking anywhere but her. The realization hit her like a ton of bricks.

"Ya didn't get her, did ya?" Eli started to smile at the thought, Michonne running through the woods, free. "Did ya Merle? She outran ya, too smart for someone like _you._"

He met her eyes, his weren't cold anymore. "I'm tryin'… I'm tryin' to help ya Eli."

She felt her insides soften, remembering the back of his pickup, the wind in her hair. "Then untie me. Let me go."

"I can't. He'll find you, and he'll kill you." Merle said this so matter-of-factly that he made her believe it. She watched him as he walked out the door, tears silently dripping off her chin.

"Please," Her whispered sobs drowning out the noise in her head. "Please, someone… just help me."

_**Daryl…**_

It was nice to be thanked. Rick walked next to him, embarrassment flooding his cheeks as he recalled his two day disappearance inside the prison. Daryl taking care of Judith while he sorted his shit out. Daryl didn't see it as a chore… he saw it as something that just needed to be done because they were still human and he was there and he should do something. That's all.

"It's what we do." He stated simply.

He could feel Rick's relief that Daryl didn't need it to be discussed further. Funny, after all this time the sheriff didn't know him well at all. Daryl wasn't the type to talk deep about things. He just let sleeping dogs lie. No point in riling them up.

When they reached the gated community Michonne held her fingers to her lips, motioning for the silence she demanded. He had to admit, she knew what she was doing. Knew exactly how to get them in quietly. As they all made their way down the road, pressed against the stucco walls of the buildings to keep out of sight, he could feel his heart start to race. Merle was somewhere in these walls. His brother was here and working with this fucking idiot named after a politician, a lie. He couldn't say that he was surprised, per say, just disappointed. He was always disappointed when it came to Merle.

And just like that, quicker than anyone expected, Michonne led them straight to Glenn and Maggie. Glenn was beaten to a pulp, Maggie looked like she'd been sobbing for days, gripping her shirt tightly around her middle. Daryl didn't even want to know, didn't want to have a clue as to what had happened to her while locked up in these makeshift suburban nightmare homes. Spray painted siding entered his mind, shutters nailed to window frames… the sign for Mill Road covered in grime and dust. He shook the images out of his head as they tried to gather themselves to leave… but Michonne had other plans.

"Where are they? Did you see the two girls that they dragged in here with ya?"

Glenn looked so confused, eyes glazed over. His nose was still oozing blood.

"We didn't see any girls." Maggie answered flatly, running her smooth hand over Glenn's hair, comforting him. "Far as we know, it's just us down here."

"Yeah, far as you know." Michonne's frustration was thick in the air. "You didn't hear anything? Nothing that would indicate others being held captive?"

Glenn looked up and sighed heavily. "I heard a girl crying. A young girl. In the room next to me." He shook his head as if that would straighten out his thoughts. "No words, just soft crying. Didn't last more than ten minutes and then the sound kinda just stopped."

"What room were you in?" Michonne's eyes were wild, gripping the handle of her sword and shooting her eyes in every direction they could look. "What room?" She demanded again, her voice a little louder this time.

"Look, he doesn't remember alright? Back the fuck off!" Maggie stood, getting in Michonne's face. "In case you haven't noticed, we've just been through hell, okay?"

Michonne's eyes went from wild, to surprise… to dark. They narrowed and her lips formed a tight, straight line. "These two girls are going through it right now… okay?" She mimicked Maggie's southern twang and rolled her eyes. "Who knows what he's doing to them. The girl, that was next to you?" Michonne was looking at Glenn now. "She's thirteen years old. That's it. The other one is her aunt and she's a good person, knew before any of those assholes out there that the Governor is malicious, twisted fuck. She doesn't deserve to die in here. Neither of them do…" Daryl could hear her voice split, like she was about to cry. "Eli was the only one who listened to me when I said-"

There was a crack in the planet, an actual noise in his head. "What?"

She looked at him, eyes still constricted. "She listened when I said he was a bad guy, listened when I said I knew it, even though I didn't have proof."

"No… no that's not what…" He was stuttering. He'd heard her wrong was all, there was no way she'd just said that name. There was no way. "Her name."

Now she watched him with curiosity, not suspicion. "Her name is Eli. About my age, green eyes, curly red hair?" She watched Daryl's eyes fill up. "Her niece, her name is Sarah."

He didn't remember much after that, except for the walls passing by him in a blur and Michonne at his side. She was right. They didn't deserve to die here. Not a one of them did.

_**Eli…**_

"There's a party goin on outside." He dragged the metal chair over to her, the tone of it against the concrete high pitched and miserable. He stood tall in front of her and lingered for just a moment, his crotch meeting her eyes. She craned her neck away from his body as far as it would go, angry tears continuing to flow down her cheeks. He finally turned the chair around and straddled it in front of her. The way she was tied up made it so her legs were splayed as well, so their knees touched. Gentle kisses through faded denim. "Too bad we can't just get along, otherwise we'd be out there sippin' lemonade and listenin to skynyrd with the rest of em'."

"Yeah," She whispered quietly. "Too bad."

"Why ya gotta be this way?" He brought the back of his hand gently to her cheek, rubbed a tear away with his thumb. Her insides began to tremble with fear. "I'm a good guy once ya get to know me… if ya give me a chance."

She decided to risk it, play along, might be the only way she'd ever get out of here and see Sarah again. "Yeah?"

He nodded lightly, turning on the charm he usually saved for the blonde. Her insides cringed as she bit her bottom lip. He was still touching her face. His hands were still on her in one way or another… it made her feel ill. The day before he'd taken that same hand to her at a hundred miles an hour, demanding to know something about people she'd never even met. If she hadn't hated him before, she hated him more than possible in that moment. The pig. The bastard…

"Then why not let me go?" She pleaded, leaning forward a moment, attempting to look more genuine with the gesture. "We could work everything out, if… if you just _let me go_ …" A sob escaped her throat despite her best efforts. She was dehydrated, exhausted… a moment's away from collapsing. "Please… please just let me go."

He stood, knocking the chair over, his violent demeanor returning with a vengeance as his bare knuckles pounded into her right cheekbone. She cried out in spite of herself… she couldn't take much more. Her eyes were swollen shut, she was short of breath, the veins in her throat were pulsing through the skin, and everything about her was thinner somehow. His open hand met the left side of her face, catching her lip and smashing into her teeth. Eli watched the wall move in front of her as her chair toppled over, banging her head against the cement floor. It smelled of blood.

As Eli squinted at him standing over her, satisfaction in his eyes, a familiar feeling flooded in. Something she remembered from long ago. It wasn't a smell, or a sight, or a sound that jogged her memory… but simply a deep ache within herself. Maybe her heart was breaking. Maybe she was giving up, letting it happen.., and wishing for it to just be all over. He was going to end it, this shiny toothed man that reeked of leather and ivory soap. He was her angel, sent in devil's clothing, taking her away from this evil place. Not allowing memories of the boy down the road or her niece's sweet face to enter her thoughts because… because all she saw was him, her own fear mirrored in his eyes. All she saw was his belt unbuckle… and she wanted to die. She wished for it to happen. With every god damned piece of her she wished it. She shut her eyes as she felt him kick the insides of her thighs, spreading her legs wider. _Just let me fall asleep… forever… let me close my eyes and never open them. Let me never wake up… please God… please just let me go…_

The screaming made no sense, she didn't want to look. Her eyes were squeezed shut tight as the roar became chaotic around her… and she heard Michonne's voice. "DON'T KILL HIM, GOD, DON'T KILL HIM YET! WE NEED HIM TO TELL US WHERE ANDREA IS… HEY… DO YOU HEAR ME?! STOP IT!"

A thud to the floor, unmistakably a heavy body. Eli opened one of her eyes as much as it would allow. The Governor's shaky frame was laid beside her… too close for comfort. Eli sealed her eyes again as she moved from where she was to the other side of the room with the chair strapped to her wrists and feet. She could hear them telling her to stop, just stop and they'd help her. Fuck them, they had no idea what it was like to stare at this monster… she had just wished death to open its arms to her. They'd never understand…

"Eli?" His voice came from the shadows of her mind… and she couldn't help but wonder why it arrived right then… had she missed him that much? Had she waited until she was about to die to remember his voice, his face, his smell, his hair… the way he said her name?

"Eli… its Michonne… can you understand me?" Her eyes were so dark. Dark and concerned. Eli smelled burnt flesh, her own coppery blood still filling the air. She nodded, or, at least she felt like she nodded. "Good… good girl… Eli, this is your friend. He helped me save you. Do you know who this man is?"

She felt it then… the cool skin against her burning cheek.

He smelled the same. How could he possibly smell the same? She wouldn't open her eyes. She could not do it.

"Eli… it's me… Jesus… let me help you please. Let me get you out of here."

Eli kept her eyes closed, not willing to acknowledge this moment as truth. It wasn't real and she wouldn't allow it to be just by opening her very unreliable eyes. This didn't just happen. She was in heaven, that's what it was… someone from up there was saving her.

"Let's go get Sarah."

He sounded just like Daryl, and he was going to save her family too. Heaven was everything she'd expected it to be.


	6. Chapter 6

**This story is dark as hell, but I love writing it. Maybe that means I'm a little twisted, but connecting over a shared past pain has always appealed to me in the story sense. I really hope others enjoy it, even though it doesn't make you feel all warm and fuzzy after reading it. Thanks to SweetKiki, ChicagoMyth and others for reading the past couple of chapters and taking the time to review. I love opening up my fanfiction home page to new reviews! Anyway, I hope all those who read, enjoy, and all those who enjoy, review! **

**Chapter Six**

_**Eli…**_

_She didn't recognize the scent inside the house; it smelled alien and put a bitter taste on her tongue. The halls were dark, lined with graffiti, chipped paint, dry-wall showing where someone had attempted repairs long ago. The thought almost made her laugh, someone trying to fix up this dump. _

_Here she was, inside Mill Road Mansion. She knew Daryl had followed her in, but Eli was quick on her feet and had already made it up the darkened stairwell. He was still downstairs, probably just trying to find her. She knew Daryl wouldn't call out her name, just in case anyone was inside. She was grateful for his common sense in that moment, creeping down the narrow hallway, quiet as a mouse. She looked to her left, seeing that at the end of the hall it turned a sharp corner, probably leading to many more rooms. To her right it did the same thing. Man… this place was huge. Water damage throughout, a sickly smell, but hell if it wasn't the biggest place she'd ever been in her life. Eli pressed her hand against a spray painted picture of a flower, warped and all the wrong colors. She imagined whomever had created this work of art was stoned out of their mind._

"_Hey girl."_

_She jumped a mile, hollered out from the shock of it as she turned quickly. A very tall man stood a mere foot away from her. Eli held her breath as he looked her over, picking at a particularly raw scab nearing his hairline. "Um… hi…" She stuttered, at a complete loss. What the hell was she supposed to do? She kept her mouth shut tight, afraid to do anything that might upset him and put her in even more of a predicament. _Fucking Daryl… _She thought. _Stupid fucking idea, what the hell was he thinking? Why in God's name did I listen?

"_Ya really don't belong here, little one, not one bit." A spot of drool came from the corner of his mouth and dripped on his shirt. "Dangerous place for a pretty thing like you."_

"_I was just… I was…"_

"_Trespassin', is what ya were doin'." He snarled at her as he reached his hand out. She could feel a tear streaming down her face and he took one of her curls in his dirty fingers, gave it the slightest tug. "Police will charge ya with trespassin' if I call em'… ya know that right?"_

"_Jonesy… hey Jonesy! Where the fuck you at man?" Another man's voice came from the room he'd just exited. A deeper one than the meth head that stood before her, touching her hair, smelling her skin… she felt like she was going to puke. "It's your hit, ya fuckin' waster… get back in here!"_

"_Nah, ya should come on out Bran! Got us a visitor, we do!" He didn't take his eyes off of her as he yelled back to his friend. She could hear rustling around downstairs suddenly… Daryl had heard the men. He was going to save her… he'd know what to do._

_Unfortunately for her, this Jonesy guy heard it too and yanked her into the blackened room roughly as she screamed. She was thrown to the floor and heard the click of a lock. Eli reached up to touch her face, her nose was bleeding._

"_Well, well, well…" Eli refused to look; she kept her eyes on the floor, too frightened to move. This was a third voice… a third… Jesus Christ… "Ya weren't kiddin' Jones… we don't get visitors pretty as you that often. You a young little thing ain't cha?" Eli didn't answer._

_A hand wrapped up the back of her hair and pulled her head off the floor. Three men were before her… Jonesy must have had a hold of her hair. Four men altogether… Four…_

"_It ain't polite to not answer someone's question, you uppity little cunt." The one who's name was Bran knelt down in front of her, his long brown hair drooping over his lazy eyes. She looked to the scars on the inside of his elbow. A junkie. Fucking great._

"_Yes," She choked out, "I'm young."_

"_How young?" Jonesy asked, pulling the back of her shirt up to expose her bra strap, cutting it with what she guessed was a sharp knife._

"_I'm… I'm thirteen… God please just leave me alone. I won't ever come back here, I won't ever tell no one about this… just please let me leave, I promise I won't tell no one-"_

"_Shut the fuck up." He released her hair and let her face smash against the floor again. Terror ruled her, she didn't even feel her nose break._

_Then he was there, pounding on the door, fury in his voice. "Let her go you fuckin' mother fuckers, let her go! I'm callin' the fuckin' cops, you pieces of shit!"_

_Bran put his fingertips under her chin, lifting her face. "Kenny… shut him up… hard."_

_The man behind him stood and walked right past Eli… but not before she grabbed at his ankle, pulling his pant leg hard enough to make him fall to the ground. "God dammit!" He hollered out… than the cracking sound in the back of her skull… and it all went black._

_**Daryl…**_

Michonne and Rick were in those halls, searching every room, trying to find Sarah. Maggie leaned over Eli's body with Daryl, identifying breaks and trying to wrap some of her wounds. He had to stand up, get out of there… she was so beaten that it didn't even look like her. He'd only seen her that way once before and it haunted his dreams to this day… that's what this was, it was a dream, and he'd wake up and she'd be perfect again.

"Eli, honey, can ya hear me?" Maggie spoke softly. When she didn't respond Maggie's voice hollered to him. "If you give a shit at all, help me out here!"

He took in a deep breath and knelt down next to the farmer's daughter. Daryl touched Eli's shoulder and felt it, that deep warmth he couldn't explain, only shining through when she was near. He hadn't felt that warmth in almost a decade. This girl… this woman that he'd known since… Jesus he couldn't even keep his thoughts straight. He leaned down real close to her ear, taking in the blood that was seeping out of it. "Eli… Eli, its Daryl. Can you nod if you hear me?"

Nothing. Her breathing was ragged and shallow.

Daryl reached down and held her first two fingers, squeezed them. He remembered that first day at the end of her dirt road. Her scrawny eight year old body, the cigarette burns. "Squeeze back if you hear me…" He leaned all the way over her, holding his eyes shut to keep the tears from spilling out. When he pressed his forehead to hers it felt the same… _she_ felt the same. "Please, El… just squeeze, just the smallest squeeze, so I know yer there…"

More nothing. He knew the only thing that might jar her, so he whispered into her broken face, "We're gettin' Sarah, El… we're gonna save her. Ya gotta squeeze… so's I can tell her yer alright."

Five seconds went by… then ten… then it happened. He felt her press her thumb into his palm, ever so gently, moaning as she turned her head to the side.

Maggie sighed with relief, placing a bandana under her left ear as more blood began to pump from a deep cut right next to it. Daryl fell back on to his hands, trying to gain composure, trying to not be scared to death. "She'll need stitches, and I think… I think her cheek bone is broken, her teeth went right through her lip…" Maggie's hands traveled down Eli's body, pausing here and there, feeling for more injuries. "She's got a dislocated shoulder." Her eyes shot up to Daryl's, fire behind them, purpose. "You gotta help me pop it back in."

"What?" He shook his head. Was this bitch crazy? "No fuckin' way… I'll hurt her."

"Daryl, I can't do it on my own, and if we let it stay this way and try to move her we could permanently damage the tissue, she might not be able to use it ever again, I need-"

"Alright, alright… I got it." He held his hand up, silencing Maggie. Daryl moved to the side of Eli, looking at the purple swelling on her neck that crept down to her forearm. "What do I do?"

Maggie grabbed his hands and put them where she wanted, under Eli's elbow and holding her hand firmly. "Okay, now when I say, I need you to lift her elbow and her hand about three inches of the ground. Just three inches, no higher, no lower… you need to really get this right."

His insides were twisting to the point of breaking in half, but he only nodded.

"And then when I tell you, push forward, up toward her shoulder. If we do this correctly you'll hear and feel a pop. If we don't, well, we might push the bone right through the skin… Daryl… are you listening?"

Barely, his eyes traveling over Eli's broken frame, landing on the tiny scars above her right breast. You could barely see them anymore.

"Whether we get this wrong or we get this right," Maggie sighed, shutting her eyes to the world for just a moment before grabbing his attention again. "She's going to be in excruciating pain, she'll cry out, she might even convulse. If she does, I'm going to need you to put your size to good use and hold on to her, keep her in one spot. If she thrashes around too much she could break something else and I am not as good at this as my dad is."

"Okay, okay let's just do this."

"Alright… one… two…" Maggie and Daryl both took deep breaths in at the same time. "THREE!"

A crunch and a pop, and then her sweet voice screaming in agony. She twisted completely around, landing on her other side, kicking her legs. Daryl moved quickly to her, wrapping his arms around hers, holding them to her chest. His legs enclosed her own, completely immobilizing as the tears streaked down her face, painful cries escaping her lips. Maggie was wide eyed, watching them. Daryl pressed his lips to her ear, rubbing her arm gently as her body lost some of its tension. "It's okay." Daryl whispered softly. "It's okay El… I'm here… I'm here."

_**Eli…**_

_Sounds from the abyss, her father's voice… mean and angry. Her world was dark then, black… empty. Only the awful voices to keep her company._

_Than a calm tone to break the monotony, asking her questions… so many questions… "Eli, do you know what year it is? Can you tell me what happened?"_

_Moving… she was moving. She felt the vehicle travel over bumps in the road, all parts of her body ached as they hit each pothole, every speed bump. She opened one of her eyes, the other one refusing to move… it felt puffy, she could barely see. There was a long tube coming out of her arm that led up to a bag of what looked like water, swaying back and forth. _

"_Eli, talk to me, can you hear me?" Her good eye traveled to a man in a white uniform, splattered with blood, hers. His eyes were deep brown and kind, concerned for her. "Talk to me Eli."_

"_It's 1999… 1999." She said. Eli's voice sounded foreign to her, distant and strange. _

"_What happened to you?"_

_She remembered a dark hallway, a bitter taste in her mouth. "I don't know… I can't… I can't remember."_

"_I already told you what happened." Daryl… Daryl was there._

"_Daryl?" She strained to move her head, but the man with the kind eyes put a palm to her forehead, forcing her back down to the pillow. He looked over to where Daryl must have been sitting. _

"_I'm doing my assessment kid, let me do my job."_

"_Yeah, well, quit badgerin' her, she can barely talk." There were tears in Daryl's voice. Eli watched as the EMT passed Daryl some gauze._

"_Yeah, well, quit bein' a tough guy and put a stop to the blood pouring out of your forehead. You won't do her any good if you pass out from blood loss." He looked back down to her. "Now Eli, do you remember anything? Anything at all?"_

_A hallway, graffiti… a man's scabby face. "There was a man… we were at Mill Road Mansion."_

_The EMT shut his eyes in apparent frustration. When he looked back up he stared directly at Daryl, in the dark place that Eli couldn't see. "You two are lucky to be alive."_

_**Daryl…**_

Sarah kept crying, she wouldn't stop. Michonne had her wrapped up in her arms as they moved quickly through the woods, Daryl cradling Eli in his own. Maggie stopped them every few minutes to put more gauze to the cut on her forehead. That was the worst one.

"Is she gonna be ok?" She was hiccupping, completely hysterical. Daryl didn't recognize Sarah when Rick and Michonne finally made their way back down to where he was. She'd grown so much… the same age that Eli was when the bad day happened to her. Happened to them both. Sarah was tall, like her mother, the same concerned furrow to her eyebrows as Emilie always used to wear when looking at her sister. It was so strange, seeing her after all these years.

"She'll be fine honey, just calm down okay?" Michonne's voice was strained. Sarah wriggled out of her grasp and ran up beside Daryl, putting her hand under Eli's motionless head. Merle was behind them all, silenced by the blood, the bruises, the violence that he had been a part of. Daryl felt the shame come off him like the heat bounces off a darkly paved highway. _Good._ He thought. _Let him suffer._

"You're Daryl, right?" Sarah's red eyes were staring at him as they ran away from Woodbury. "The one that she talked about, Merle's brother, that's you?"

He didn't answer, just kept walking as fast as he good. The little girl had to run to keep up.

"Fine, don't say nothin' to me except this then…" She jogged in front of him and stopped, forcing him to stand there and listen. "You all got us out of there, thank you, THANK YOU!" Her tears multiplied, seemed to move faster with every word. "But… but if ya'll don't fix her… if she dies… I'm all alone." She sank to her knees in front of Daryl, sobbing, begging. "Please don't let her die… please you have to promise. Promise?"

Daryl saw Eli in his mind, the day they met, squeezing his fingers before he could pull away. _Promise? _She'd asked. He'd kept that promise to this very day.

"I promise."


	7. Chapter 7

**SweetKiwi and DarylDixonsLover, thank you so much for reading and reviewing! I really hope you like this new chapter **

**Took me a long time to update, as it usually does. Please read and review, tell me what you think, especially if you like it! Thanks readers!**

**Chapter Seven**

_**Daryl…**_

The divide couldn't have been more obvious than in the moments after Daryl lay Eli in the cot to let Herschel and Carol do what they did best… fix all that's broken. How was he supposed to tell them that she'd been damaged beyond fixing for a long time now? That no one could really know, because she had kept all those shattered pieces from the public eye? Eli wasn't an open book, a raw wound… on the contrary, Eli was what you see after the ugliness on top is healed. The slight pink to the skin after a deep cut has scabbed over and fallen off. No one could tell what was happening underneath the freshness of a scar, except for the ones that were there when you were sliced open in the first place. He stepped outside of those slate gray walls, the color of tombstones, of death, and let it all hit him. Let it all in as the Georgia sun turned the sky the brightest orange he'd ever seen. It could have been beautiful if he'd opened himself to it. But that was impossible, because she was here… after all this time, she was here. The trail of blood leading into the cell block was just one piece of evidence. He was sticky with the red substance, and felt suddenly ill. When he rounded the corner to wash his shaking hands under the spigot, that's when he saw the divide, like a crack in the center of his earth.

Merle's hands had always been larger than Daryl's, he could tell mostly when he buried his own face in them. He remembered the last time he'd seen his dad, when his brother's large hands broke the rope that kept Daryl tied to that still in the middle of hell. He owed Merle his life, he owed him everything. And right now… he was hurting. Daryl couldn't necessarily understand what had him so shook up to the point of hiding his face with his remaining hand. Was he afraid for Eli? Was he nervous they'd cast him out? Was he scared to talk to Daryl, after all that had happened, all that hadn't happened?

"Hey." Daryl's angel wings pressed up against the same wall that Merle was leaned against. He slid down so he was only a few short feet away from him. Merle didn't move his fingers from covering his face. "Ya alright?"

He didn't speak, just sat, for a good five minutes. Daryl couldn't be sure, but his neck was convulsing, his pulse moving at a strange pace… like he might be crying… but he knew better than to push. When Merle was ready his hand dropped. He didn't look at Daryl, just spoke to the empty air.

"I tried helpin' her little brother."

Daryl didn't know what to say. Watching this, Merle experiencing real regret over someone that wasn't supposed to mean anything to him, it made Daryl feel even smaller than usual. "Well, ya know her… bet she fought ya til she realized she was screwed. It's just her… style, ya know?"

Merle nodded. "I just, I thought what they all thought, even though I had a better idea of what it really was… Woodbury… him… I'm a fool." He turned his head slightly, not looking Daryl in the eye. "When I saw her, saw what he'd done…" His head fell, eyes on the ground. "I remember what happened to ya the last time she was in trouble like this. It nearly killed ya."

"Things were different back then Merle." Daryl hadn't even made the connection. The thought that his brother might remember pain that wasn't even his own was too much for Daryl to understand. "She's just another one of us, always has been, one of our kind, we're all… fractured somehow. She's just another one of us… she always will be."

"Still, I tried." Merle leaned his head back, his short gray hair scratching against the cement. "I wanted ya to know that."

They sat in silence for a long while. All the things that went through his mind were so bizarre during the hour or so it took the sun to finally set. The glow of the lanterns inside did nothing to comfort the Dixon brothers. Daryl was always good at taking other people's anguish and making it his own… he just wished he could do it for Merle, but he'd never been able to accomplish that feat. Merle was like a stove burner that had just been shut off, deceitful in its presentation. You thought you'd be safe touching it, but he'd burn you the moment your finger touched the metal, it was his nature. So they sat, silent in the night air, neither of them planning on going in to check. Daryl didn't want to know. Because if she was dead, if she was gone, he didn't want to know yet. The idea that Eli was safe somewhere had been such a comfort to him in the past years that her death would blow a hole in him too large to fill. He wasn't ready. He'd never be.

"AHH, GOD STOP!"

Daryl and Merle stood quickly, Daryl almost losing his footing. Eli's voice reverberated out the prison windows and spread across the courtyard. "STOP, PLEASE STOP!"

Daryl made his way toward the door but was halted in mid stride by the young girl's body. She ran out with such force that she ran directly into his stomach and fell backward on to the ground. Eli's hollering was still too loud for his ears. He tried not to hear it as he bent down to help Sarah off the ground, but she slapped his hand away in between sobs. "Don't touch me!" She shouted, getting up in a stagger. Her young face was puffy with hours-worth of tears. He took in the raw spots on her wrist… that man back in Woodbury must have had her tied up… which meant that Merle had known she was restrained as well.

And that made what happened next much more logical than anyone might have guessed. "_You…"_ Sarah's dark brown eyes turned red around the pupils, and she leapt… literally _leapt… _at Merle. "You did this with that man, she's here because of you! She's here because of you! I hate you, I hate you! _I hate you!"_

Merle tried to block the girl's fists, but Daryl had to hand it to her, she knew how to land a punch. His brother looked up to him, begging with his eyes, not knowing how to handle this much anger coming from such a small person. Daryl pried Sarah off of Merle, holding her arms so they were crossed behind her back… and that's when her panic really set it in.

"No, no please don't, don't!" Sarah sounded alarmed, frightened. Merle moved faster than Daryl had seen him move before, ripping Daryl's hands from off of Sarah's arms.

"What the fuck?" Daryl asked, feeling the sting of his brother's fists on his forearms so he'd let the girl go. Sarah darted away, leaving the two men in ruins, which ruins they weren't quite sure. Were they hers? Eli's? Their own? What misery even belonged to either of them anymore?

Daryl watched in confusion, Merle in sadness, as Sarah ran straight into the chain link fence. Her entire body was pressed against the barricade, her small fingers wrapped around the dirty metal. Daryl could see the side of her face as she sobbed, sliding down so her skin dragged against her prison… their prison.

"Sorry brother… that's how the man had her tied up…" Merle's breaths were staggered. He refused to look at Sarah as he continued. "Hands behind her back… her eyes just went wild when you did that."

"Tell me what happened in there Merle." His fury was sudden and intense, the thought of that little girl tied up like a prized hog, anything could have happened to her in that dingy underground suburbia. And Merle was a part of this? How the fuck could he do this? "You tell me what happened, tell me you bastard!" He slammed Merle against the wall, his arm pressing his throat against the concrete, choking him slowly.

Forced tears ran down Merle's face as he attempted to keep air in his lungs. Daryl's tears were real and full of rage. Merle began to choke words out, Daryl barely able to hear. "I'm sorry, little brother… I didn't hurt em', I didn't."

Daryl let him go, let him fall to the ground, let him puke out bile. "You did, cuz ya didn't do nothin'. Might as well have tied em' up yerself." Daryl took in a shaky breath. "If she makes it through this," He pointed his finger inside, and then pointed it to the sobbing girl against the fence, "And if she ever speaks to me with honesty… I'm gonna get the whole story. I don't believe a damn word out of yer mouth… you didn't do nothin' Merle." He shook his head in disgust. "Might as well have cut their legs out from underneath em' yer god damn self."

Daryl spoke one last word before walking back around the corner, not able to look anyone in the eyes, not able to know how bad it was inside those cell block walls… how close his once best friend was to dying. "Coward."

He knew Merle could hear him. _Coward._

_**Eli…**_

_She knew this wasn't right, knew what kind of trouble it could get her into. It's not like she hadn't noticed her Dad sneaking around more than usual, asking her more questions than she liked in general… but he'd been so careful with her over the summer. Gentle even. Like she imagined most fathers should be. Eli had never been foolish enough to dream that a Walsh man was capable of such emotions, let alone her own Dad. Connor Walsh, concerned father… like that existed._

_But apparently it did. The day he came to her in the hospital she saw real tears. Those hadn't flowed from his eyes in all the years she'd known him, this man that was supposed to be her dad. But there he was, in the hospital waiting room, screaming… demanding to know where his daughter was. Demanding to see his little girl… because he was worried. Her own father, he worried… about her. The thought still boggled her mind._

_Daryl was asleep in the chair leaned against her hospital bed, his right hand covering hers, snoring heavily. Daryl never got good sleep when she was around, she was always worrying him, but he stayed no matter what, indifferent to his own needs. His need to sleep, to eat, to report home to father Dixon before he broken out the belt with the oversized buckle, strong enough to leave visible scars for life. He'd stayed. _

"_What's he doin' in here?" Her Dad's voice was loud and unwelcome. She was just starting to get some rest when he'd wandered in, less drunk than usual, she'd give him that. "Get him out… get him out now!"_

"_Stop." Her voice too light, too strained, to be heard by anyone but Daryl in his wakened state. "You'll get kicked out Dad, they do it all the time when people act like yer' actin' now."_

_Eli could tell that he wanted to yell some more, scream, kick, and holler… anything that was violent enough to make sense of the monsters in his head. But instead he just took a deep breath, exhaled slowly, and sat in the chair across the hospital room. "Ya know, they keep askin' me questions… bout' stuff I dunno how to answer. Ya need to talk to the police, they'll make you."_

"_No they won't." Eli stared out the window, the morphine drip dulling her senses. "I'm a minor. They can make me stay here til' I'm better, they can make me do that… rape kit thing…" Her whole body shuddered at the blurry memory. "But they can't make me talk." Her eyes met her father's. "And if they try, there's a whole hell of a lot that I can say about you, Daddy Dearest." She didn't know where this was coming from. Normally she wouldn't ever speak to her father that way, out of fear of getting hit… but the narcotics and the situation gave her new found brevity. Daryl still had his eyes shut, but his thumb pressed into her palm, gently letting her know he was awake and could hear every word. "They can tell which bruises are new and which ones are old. Did ya think of that?"_

_Her father was quiet, silenced by the severity of what was happening. "Eli… honey…" Honey? Why was he calling her that? "I just want you to talk to someone, someone who can help you with… with what happened."_

"_Yeah, well fuck that, it's not happening. And if you try and make me, I'll tell them all about you Dad. Just leave me be. Please, make them leave me alone."_

_He sighed heavily, running his working man hands over his face in frustration. "Fine. I'll come back in a while with some soup or something." He glared at Daryl. "I want him gone when I come back."_

"_If he wants to leave he will, if not, then he'll be here. I'm not kicking him out Dad. Get used to it."_

_Like she said, she knew how much trouble it could get her into speaking to her father this way, but there wasn't a moment in recent memory she could think of where she could have possibly cared less._

Pounding… a constant pulsing inside her head… it's all she could hear or feel or think about. Eli was frightened to open her eyes, if she could even manage it. The voices around her were muffled and strange, foreign to her. Nothing she heard was familiar… and all she smelled was blood.

"Keep her still, ya hear? Beth, make sure she stays still." This voice was another she'd never heard, but it was comforting none-the-less.

"I won't move…" She managed, her throat was so dry. "Water…"

Metal falling against cement, shuffling around, and then a cool dry hand slipping under the base of her neck, trying to crane her head up a bit. Eli squinted into the bright overhead light, only one eye able to open slightly, and caught a glimpse of a young blonde girl, concern set in her blue eyes. The girl held a metal bowl to Eli's lips and she drank hungrily from it, feeling the cold water coat her insides like a breeze on a hot day.

"Yer name is Eli, right?" Her good eye moved to see a kind old man at her bedside. She nodded. "Well Eli, with all that you've managed to sleep through I don't imagine this will be tough, but we have to give you stitches. Another luxury we cannot manage is any sort of anesthetic, so ya gotta muscle through this for me. Can ya do that?"

She nodded again. "My shoulder… it hurts really bad."

"It was dislocated. My daughter Maggie and our friend Daryl took care of that for you. It will be sore for a while, probably a few weeks. You need to take it easy with it, but it will heal alright."

"Daryl?"

Memories came flooding back… she could feel his arms wrapped around her body, see his dirty boots as his legs were enveloped hers, protecting her from herself. He'd brought her here…

"Where is Sarah?" She didn't intend for her voice to raise an octave, but that's what it did. Panic settled in her chest as she thought of her niece. "Where is she?"

"Calm down, she's right outside." Herschel smiled warmly at her. "And she's just fine. Worried 'bout you is all. So let's do the girl a favor and fix you up. What do ya say?"

She sighed and laid her head back down on the pillow. The walls seemed to melt as she closed her eyes to the light. "I say okay… okay."

_**Daryl…**_

_The sun felt hotter than usual, as though it would burn a million little holes right through his t-shirt. Daryl's eyes turned up toward the sky as he made his way down Walsh Road, kicking rocks along the way. The light peeked through the heavily cloaked trees and scorched every piece of land it could touch. This was the third week of the drought and it didn't look to be letting up any time soon. All he wanted to do was go down the waterfront with Eli, go swimming… but she hadn't been in the water all summer long. This was the last week before school started. Their last chance. He was going to push her in if that's what it took… he hoped he wouldn't have to take it that far._

_Once he reached the widened driveway his eyes fell level, right to her waiting for him on the porch. Her hair was down, as it usually was, and she had her arms wrapped tightly around her knees. Lately Eli reminded him more of a turtle retreating into its shell than an actual person. She hardly spoke, angered easily, and never wanted anyone to touch her. He didn't feel right being fed up with it… considering the circumstances… but he just wanted his best friend back. The world was too lonely without her. Daryl had come to realize in the months since Mill Road Mansion exactly what his life would be like if she weren't in it. It wouldn't be worth it, all the pain and bullshit… it wouldn't be worth it if he didn't have her company. She made him feel like a whole person. He couldn't lose her to those men that tore her apart… he wouldn't._

"_Hey." Daryl nodded at her and her eyes shot up. She nodded back but said nothing. "It's fuckin' hot… let's go swimming."_

_She watched him with narrowed eyes and slowly reached her hand out to take his. He gently held on to her fingertips and forearm, helping her off of the high porch. The swelling around her nose had finally disappeared a few weeks back, and her face was the same as before. Well… not exactly the same. To be honest, he couldn't even remember what her smile looked like._

"_Where's yer' suit?" Daryl risked it and gave one of her tank top straps a little tug, noting the missing suit from underneath it. Eli angrily slapped his hand away, baring her teeth at him, and turned on her heel to walk toward the woods that took them to the river. "Hey, Eli!" He reached out and grabbed her arm, and again, she yanked it away violently._

"_Don't… I've told ya not to do shit like that." She was heated, but her eyes were filled with tears. She swiped at her cheeks quickly as to not let them fall. "Let's just go, okay Daryl?"_

_He followed her reluctantly, watching the tentative steps she took. Taking in the way her head shot up at every noise, how she clenched and unclenched her fists, sometimes wrapping her arms completely around her middle unconsciously. If Daryl believed himself to have any sort of heart, well, Eli had been breaking it for months. It was broken the moment that methed-out mother fucker opened the door in the house. He'd seen her face down on the ground, surrounded by men who were cutting off her clothes, smashing her head against the floorboards. She didn't even make a noise… that was the scariest part… the whole time this asshole was beating him near to death he knew what those pieces of shit were doing to her. He could hear them… but he couldn't hear her. He thought that she was dead._

_These days, she might as well be. Hell, at least her old man was leavin' her be. Maybe that would be the one good thing that would come out of this. Maybe her father would finally let her alone for good._

_Something in his head told him that was a crock of shit too._

_Daryl wished he could erase that day and turn her back to who she used to be. As damaged as that person was, she was still happy. There were moments she'd smile and the whole world would illuminate. Now the corners of her mouth were always turned down, frown lines making her look more like thirty than thirteen._

_Fourteen… she was fourteen now. He was almost sixteen, just a couple more weeks. Her birthday, two months prior, blew past without much recognition. Daryl had shown up at her window with a small cake, plain frosting, and a few lit candles glowing in the dark. He'd set it on her sill and sang quietly, covering her hand with his. She was still broken then, walking with crutches. When he told her to make a wish Eli reached over in silence, turning each of the lit candles upside down and plunging them deep into the cake. He could still hear the sizzle as they went out, could see the blank expression on her face as she started to hum "for he's a jolly good fellow". She pushed the cake off her ledge, watched it smash against the ground, and glanced up at him. Her eyes darted away as she whispered "thanks for remembering." Eli shut the window on him then, a silent plea for him to stay away. He wouldn't._

_Now they were walking together towards their last days of summer. Soon they'd be sitting in class together, but it would never feel the same. It wasn't "Daryl and Eli against the world" anymore. They were their own separate islands now, unreachable and lost._

Their voices were light, weightless, like dried leaves on the autumn breeze. Everyone was sleeping in their cells, but even from the top of the stairs he could see the lantern flood the "medical room" with light. They were all the way at the end of the cell block, as far away from Daryl as possible. He'd snuck by about an hour ago, finally willing himself to go inside. Anything was better than being outside with his brother. Come to think of it, he'd been on the outside with Merle his entire life. That's not who he wanted to be anymore.

So Daryl crept into the cell block, careful to slip by Eli's room unnoticed. He wasn't ready to see her yet, wasn't ready to talk to her, to hear her voice say his name. He was still in shock… wondering exactly what kind of karmic joke the world was playing on him. It was just another confusing piece of the puzzle that was his life. He didn't know where it fit yet, couldn't find its space among every other thing that had happened.

Now, as the orange glow held his attention above all else, it was like someone had wrapped a rope around his conscious and everything was screaming at him, telling him to go listen, to go check, to walk up and view her strawberry curls again. Look into her green eyes to check if she'd recognize him yet, if her mind would let her. He slinked down the metal stairs, everything around him stunned into silence by the moonless night.

He could hear it before he'd even made it half way there. When he walked by Carl's cell he saw the kid leaned up against the bars, listening to the girls as well. _Que sera… sera… whatever will be will be… the future's not ours to see… que sera… sera… _Eli's voice was rough and dry, but it remained beautiful as always.

Daryl peeked in, seeing Sarah nestled against Eli's side, head lying on her good shoulder. Eli ran her slender fingers over Sarah's hair softly, singing the French lullaby as quietly as she could, comforting her young niece. Eli had always loved Sarah in a way that was difficult to explain, but beautiful, honest. Daryl adored the way she loved Sarah. Maybe she'd be a good mother someday… if she could just get past it… if only.

"Auntie, tell me about the man that saved you. Tell me how you know him, who is he?" Daryl leaned up against the cell wall outside their door, slowed his breathing so they couldn't hear, and awaited her answer. _Tell her about the man that saved you, Eli; tell her what you think, because I need to know too. I need to._

There was a long silence, a heavy sigh, and then her sweet voice filled the empty night air. "I suppose you aren't gonna let me be until I do huh?"

"Nope… man, you know me too well." They began to giggle, like they weren't lied up on a hospital gurney and all was right with the world. It was the greatest sound Daryl had ever heard.

"He was my best friend, sweetie. My very best friend."

"Yeah… but it seems different than that… you weren't ever more than friends?" Sarah prodded. Daryl's ears began to ring and he wondered if it was God's way of telling him these words were not for his ears.

"Jeez, Sarah… this kind of thing just ain't yer business!" Eli hissed. He smiled at the sound of irritation in her voice. Same short fuse. Same as it ever was.

"Like anyone cares anymore, auntie, I mean really."

More silence, and then she spoke, quieter than before. "We loved each other, little one, I don't know what kind of love you would call it… what category you'd put it in… but we loved each other. He was… well… he was the only person who ever really knew me."

"Better than Mommy?"

"Yeah… even better than your mommy did." Eli sighed. He could picture her lips pressed against Sarah's forehead, could see her green eyes water over in his mind. "He knew all my secrets. He was the kind of friend you could tell every single secret to and he'd never tell a soul. The kind of friend who would sleep in the dirt outside your window if you were having nightmares. He was… the kind of friend you'd make shadows with on the tent walls during late summer nights. Daryl was my best friend Sarah. I've never known any man better than Daryl Dixon."

He looked down at his hands, unaware he'd been shaking.

"What happened?" Sarah's voice was small and sad.

More silence… and this time he understood. He didn't even have a grasp on if he wanted to hear what came next… but he stayed. When it came to Eli, he'd always stay… except for that once. And it had cost him ten years of his life. It had broken both their hearts into a million fucking pieces and from the sounds of it; he wasn't the only one who hadn't recovered.

"Sarah, it's complicated and I'm tired. Can't you cut me a bit of a break on this one? Please?" She really did sound tired, exhausted as a matter of fact.

"I wanna know, auntie. Tell me."

"Adults do stupid things. Mean things. They hurt each other for no reason in particular. They say bad things… do bad things… because they are afraid." He could hear it in her voice. She was crying. Daryl wanted to go in there and hold her, tell her he was sorry too, fix everything… fix it all.

"Well I'm not sure if you could be vaguer than you just were… so I guess that's all I'm going to hear huh?" Sarah sounded tired now, far away. Daryl closed his eyes and leaned his head against the wall, suddenly overcome with his own exhaustion.

"I'll tell you one thing," Eli continued as Daryl began to drift off into another restless night's sleep. "If I could go back and do it over, I'd change what happened, no matter how afraid I was, I'd take the risk and change everything I said to him that day. I'd fix all of it."

_So would I Eli… so would I._


	8. Chapter 8

**Here's the latest update, please read and review! Thanks readers! **

**Chapter Eight**

_**Daryl…**_

_The girl that Merle was making out with in the cab of his pickup looked like, for lack of a better term, a rat. That was all he could think when he saw her face. His brother was fond of this girl, her rail thin body and rodent nose, because she'd put out on the first date. He and Eli knew her… she was a senior and walked through the halls with a sense of false superiority. Once, she'd bumped into Eli's shoulder as they were walking to class and knocked her straight into a row of lockers. She was coming from the opposite direction, this girl, and wanted to make a show of watching Eli slam into the lockers and lose her footing. Real classy shit. Daryl and Eli had been at Merle's the night before, watching some mindless sitcom and smoking weed and cigarettes on his couch, and this girl walked in, her arm laid in the crook of Merle's. She was obviously drunk and Merle had his tongue down her throat. It reminded Daryl of those disgusting Discovery channel shows where all the animals performed strange mating rituals and ending up eating each other's heads. Eli turned away, squeezing his hand lightly as it laid across the couch behind her. Daryl swallowed hard, realizing she was motioning for him to wrap his arm around her. So he did. She was really cold._

"_What are you two doin' here?" Merle growled at them. "I'm busy."_

_Daryl's stomach turned watching this rodent girl licking Merle's neck. Eli quickly stood and nodded her head at Merle apologetically. "Sorry, we didn't know you'd… you'd be bringing someone else home."_

_Rodent girl's head shot up at Eli. "What's it to ya? Why do ya care?" She looked up at Merle lazily, drunkenly. "Get em' outta here if ya plan on gettin' any tonight at all. This isn't fuckin' freshman year man."_

_Eli frowned at her as she snatched up her sweatshirt and purse. "What the fuck does that even mean?" She mumbled under her breath._

"_What'd you say, you fuckin' slut?" The girl was in Eli's face, slamming her bag to the ground with her open palm. "I'm sorry if I don't speak 'whore', my bad."_

_Eli didn't respond except to pick up her purse. Daryl looked up at Merle with fury in his eyes, but all Merle could see was tonight's lay. He snatched at Eli's hand. "It's okay, we'll just go somewhere else."_

_Merle seemed to snap-to, looking at Daryl sharply. "Where, Dad's?"_

"_Where else?" He could feel Eli's hand begin to shake slightly. "We ain't goin' to her house. I ain't gonna explain why again." Daryl glared up at rat girl. "And we didn't do nothin' wrong, so this bitch can fuck off if she's gonna keep it up."_

_The girl, what was her name… Jessica? Janie? Something like that. Well, she promptly stormed off toward the front porch. Merle sighed, hands on his hips, and looked up to Daryl and Eli._

"_Go on, sleep on the pullout in Jay's room. Don't know when he's gonna be home though, so don't give me shit if he comes back around when it's inconvenient. He's been gone for a few days anyways." Merle looked out to the porch. "Now, if you'd excuse me, I'm gonna go talk this girl into keepin' me company until after we fuck… despite the two little shits that were just takin' up my damn livin' room." He didn't look directly at them as he flicked his wrist, motioning for them to move on to Jay's room. "Go on, get the fuck out now."_

"_Thanks Merle." Eli spoke quietly. He pretended like he couldn't hear her and stepped outside. Daryl nudged her shoulder with his and tried his best to smile. She returned his attempt with a weak one of her own… before she sprung up on him like a jack in the box._

_Her arms were wrapped around his neck so tight he couldn't breathe. She was standing on the tips of her toes so her cheek was pressed right up against his as his hands nervously found their way around her middle. She let go finally, when they heard the other two headed in from outside. Daryl pulled her arms from his neck, and could feel his nose brush up against hers as they moved away from one another. For a second he imagined it was their lips that had touched. When he opened his eyes she was staring at him hard, tears making her pupils look shiny and sad. "Come on, we'll set up the pull out. Ya need sleep."_

_She nodded, quickly leaning up to press her lips against his cheek. "Don't sleep on the floor… okay?"_

_His heart was beating through his chest, like it would explode out the other side of him any second. "Okay, sure, I won't."_

_Daryl led them into the darkened room, lit only by the orange moon outside, and shut the door firmly behind them._

_**Eli…**_

Her fingertips brushed up against the wall behind her as she stretched. It felt as though every muscle in her body had been beaten to a pulp and had slowly started to recover. Sarah stirred in her sleep, squirming against Eli's side. She turned and draped her arm around her niece's small frame, hugging her, kissing the back of her head. For the first time in days, she felt a smile creep on to her lips, surprise filling her up to the brim. All they had been through, every unfamiliar place they'd been… and Sarah still managed to smell the same. It felt like home to her, that smell.

"Auntie, I'm tryin' to sleep." Sarah mumbled, her words blurry. "It ain't even light out yet."

Eli grinned. "I'm sorry darlin', I'm just a little sore." She leaned up on her elbow and pressed her other palm against the side of Sarah's head. Eli leaned down and kissed her dirty cheek. "I'm gonna get up, I need to stretch my legs."

"Do ya want me to come with ya?" Sarah half-heartedly offered, rolling over so she was facing her aunt. "I can if ya need me to."

"No, just get some rest. I shouldn't be too long."

"Okay… 'night" Sarah was snoring again before Eli even managed to maneuver her way off of the bunk bed.

Eli let her eyes adjust to the moonlight as she pulled back the heavy blanket they'd draped over her cell door. Her eyes blinked on and off, trying to take in all her surroundings. Her legs were unsteady and were making her nervous. If she fell down no one would be there to help her unless she called out for it. The very thought of being helpless on the floor, begging someone she barely knew to assist her in simply standing, embarrassed her deeply. Eli didn't like needing help. She wanted to do everything on her own, wanted to live her own way. She hated owing anything to anyone, and right now she owed these people her life.

A noise to her left startled her to the point of jumping back and banging her head against the metal bar. "Ow… fuck!" She hissed as quietly as she could. Her eyes darted to the shadowy figure on the floor next to her. When she realized exactly who she was staring at her hand shot up and covered her mouth. Eli didn't want her breathing to wake him up before she could get a good look.

Eli crouched down, feeling both her knees pop with the strain of it. The closer she got, the more frightened she felt. She was kneeling now, about four feet away from his sleeping frame. He could always just fall asleep anywhere, no pillow, blanket or mattress required. It was probably years of camping that made him so adaptable. Daryl's hair was longer now and hung loosely in front of his eyes. His lips parted slightly and his breathing was soft, hands folded in his lap. Her eyes traveled down to the front of his chest, taking in his broadness, his sturdy arms. Was he always this big, tall, muscular? Was it the current situation that had forced him to be an outward representation of what he'd always been on the inside… incredibly strong? She pressed her palms down on the floor, drifting a little closer to him. It seemed remarkable, to have him here, sleeping right outside where she was healing. He was unmoving, peaceful… and wonderfully beautiful.

It hit her quickly and without mercy, this overwhelming feeling of regret. She fell back silently on her hands, scooting away from him, hoping that if he were just a shadow that this awareness would subside… it didn't. It crept up from the pit of her belly, made her skin hot and sensitive to the air encompassing her. This regret wrapped itself around her heart and held tight, piercing it, seeping into her veins. She thought of all the years she'd wasted on other men, other friends, people who never mattered to her the way that Daryl Dixon did. All this time he lived two towns over, and she never even crossed that city line, in desperate hopes of never having to look into his eyes again. Maybe it's because deep down she always knew that there was a part of her that never left that Still. There were memories that belonged to him, those woods, the canvas tent tucked under fallen tree trunks. As much as it pained her to remember, that house of her father's held on tight to what was left of that girl… so confidant and naïve, wandering up those dilapidated steps to Mill Road Mansion. It wasn't the memory of her dear old dad's closed fist, or the way her mother never picked up the phone when she called, or hiding behind the closet door when her father wandered in late at night, bourbon on his breath. None of those flashes really meant anything. They were tucked in the back of her mind with everything else that had gone sour in her life.

The memories that flooded her mind… it was all Daryl. Tapping on her window after all the lights went out. His hand grabbing hers, dragging her to their campsite. She remembered how rough his palms always felt from all that hunting and fishing and camping, but it was the most calming feeling in the world to her. That large hand wrapped around hers. She'd remember the way he smiled, with just one corner of his mouth, thought of how he'd hug her tightly to him when she allowed it. And when she remembered these things, her whole world didn't seem to be as empty.

Watching him now brought tears to Eli's eyes. She let it happen, let herself cry as she leaned back up against the bars. Her hand wandered to the floor exactly in between the two of them, wishing with everything that he'd wake up and hold it, like nothing had happened, like the last ten years didn't make a difference.

"I'm sorry." She whispered. "I love you, and I'm sorry."

_**Daryl…**_

_Lavender filled the air around them. Daryl lay rigid on his back, his arm extended and tucked under her head as she slept. Once they'd put clean sheets on the dingy mattress Eli climbed in and, without hesitation, reached her hand out to Daryl, motioning for him to join her in bed. They'd fallen asleep together in the tent before, had spent hours in either her bed or his, talking until the sun came up… but this felt different. The two of them had been together for four nights straight, after her father came home and kicked the shit out of her for the first time in months. That night she'd shown up at his window, tears streaming down her face, holding her stomach, he'd known then that she needed to get away. When he forced her to pull up her shirt and saw how bad it truly was he felt ill. She was crying so hard that hiccups were all he began to hear. "I didn't know where else to go." She moaned. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry… I thought this was over… I'm such an idiot… I'm so fucking stupid."_

_That night she'd kept apologizing as he set her up on his bed, praying that his father wouldn't hear. He slept on the floor next to her, watching her hand dangle in the air over the side of his cot. Once he'd heard her steady breathing he sat up and wrapped his arms around his knees. Daryl spent the next hour or so watching her, thinking of ways they could get away, even if it was only for a little while. _

_So they'd gone to Merle's. Not that it was much better, but at least when his brother was drunk he didn't feel the need to be violent with either of them like both of their father's did. She really had believed that the abuse was over after what happened on Mill Road. Daryl wasn't so sure… and was wildly disappointed when he was proven right. Now, here she was, sound asleep and causing pins and needles in his arm… but he didn't care. He just wished he could sleep solidly, like she was right now, but all he could think of was how they had to go back to school tomorrow. How they'd be found out. She'd have to go home, and he wouldn't be able to protect her anymore._

_She shifted in her sleep and took a sharp breath in. Daryl's body remained as still as it ever was as she turned toward him, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand and resting her head on his shoulder. He kept his eyes on the ceiling as she spoke, "What time is it?"_

"_Midnight." He could hear Merle and rat face in the next room, engaged in loud, disgusting sounding sex. Is that what it all sounded like? He was hoping that's not how it would be for him whenever… whenever he found someone… or if she ever wanted him the way he wanted her. "You should go back to sleep."_

"_Ew… God..." She put her hands over her ears and he looked at her as she shut her eyes really tight, trying to block out the bed creaking, the guttural moans reverberating from the next room. It hit him with sudden certainty that those sounds were probably far more disturbing for her than they were for him. Daryl twisted toward her, gently placing his large hand over hers, helping her muffle the noise even more. Her eyes shot open at his touch. He was practically suffocated by them, as it sometimes still happened. When he was younger he was less immune to her beauty, but over the years he'd built up a bit of a tolerance to it. It didn't make him dizzy like it used to. Now it was just something to endure, another thing that made her special… too special for him. But he'd learned to shut that part of him off for now. He didn't want to worry her, the way her life had been lately, the last thing she needed was to know how he really felt. It would probably scare the shit out of her._

_Yet there were moments where it was impossible to hit that switch, the one that hid her loveliness away, the one that made it okay for him to breathe when she was in the same room. This was one of those moments. Her face just inches from his, her green eyes sparkling with gratitude, the warmth of her hand underneath his own. She smiled lightly at him and seemed to make a decision in her mind. He felt her body move closer as she kept her hand over her ear that was exposed to the night air. Eli removed it for just a second, enough time to grab his hand and wrap it around her waist as she pressed her body up to his, nuzzling her face into his neck. _

_Yes… this moment was one of those where it was difficult to breathe. She could drown him with her beauty. With her lavender scent._

"_Thank you Daryl… for helping me." Her breath was hot on his neck. "For saving me so many times." He could feel something else warm against his skin, and damp. Tears. "I owe you a lot. I hope you know that I know that."_

"_Ya don't owe me nothin'." His voice was shaky as he rubbed her lower back, trying to stop her crying. _

"_I know I do." She sounded sleepy. Merle and that girl had stopped screwing, the night was quiet again, things began to calm and Eli removed her hand from her ear. To his surprise she didn't push away from him, but instead burrowed her face further into the nape of his neck. Her hand reached up and grasped a hold of the collar of his shirt and wrapped it around her fingers. Eli had never been this close to him before. Even as kids. She'd never wrapped her body up in his, entangled their legs together. This was the nearest she'd ever been to belonging to him. He didn't want it to end._

"_Can I stay this way while we sleep?" She asked drowsily. _

_He smiled up at the orange moon that lit up the room. "Yes…. Yeah. As long as ya need Eli. I'll be here."_

_**Eli…**_

"What's she doing out of bed?" Eli could hear the old man's voice before she opened her eyes. Daryl's followed

"Dunno… woke up and found her like this."

"Yeah, and what were you doin' down here by her cell?"

"Ya writin' a book old man? Mind yer' damn business." Daryl snapped at him. With this Eli finally opened her eyes, pretending she'd just woken up and hadn't heard their exchange.

Daryl stared down at her, holding her gaze with his blue eyes. They'd become steelier over the years, more distant, quiet even. Eli feigned a smile up at him, but he could only look at her with sadness. It suddenly occurred to her that she probably looked like hell. "Good morning." She spoke quietly, struggling to push off the ground and stand up. Daryl reached down to help her. Eli couldn't help it, she began to shake slightly at his touch. She kept her eyes on his as he raised her off the ground, and she had to hand it to him, he didn't look away once.

"Well young lady, we have to change those dressings, you know that right?" Herschel smiled warmly at her..

"Okay, sure, whatever you need."

Daryl continued to watch her as Herschel laid her down on the bunk carefully. "Do ya… anything ya need?" He asked, almost stuttering.

"Yeah, why don't ya go get me some cool water and a couple of rags please?" Herschel watched as Daryl nodded and looked down to Eli.

"And do ya need anything else?" He asked her, wringing her hands together.

"Come back in after Herschel here fixes me up?" She blurted out before she lost her nerve. "Maybe we can talk for a minute?"

His face flushed red. "Okay, yeah I can do that."

As he walked away Eli felt something that she hadn't felt in quite a long time. She was filled with a sense of hope, a dangerous thought, but completely worth it. After all, Daryl had saved her, again. Again… how many times had this man saved her life? And now after all this time he was back. Hope… that's what he brought to the table, what he'd always brought. It made everything else feel less important. Like her life wasn't over just yet.


	9. Chapter 9

**This chapter is my nod to all that is sentiment, all that makes you weepy and clingy when you watch a movie that moves you to tears. I thought of everything in a TV show, book, or movie that has ever touched me to the point of pulling real feelings out of my very stubborn psyche… and I'm pleased with the result. All those who read, please review, let me know what you think of my mental spillage I hope you like it!**

**Chapter Nine**

_**Daryl…**_

His mind was racing, hurrying in a million different directions. Daryl tried to calm himself, remembering that this was just Eli. Only Eli. He attempted to push thoughts of the past ten years from his brain, moments she wasn't around to share, because of what had happened… but on this morning out in the prison yard it was _all he could do_. All he was _capable of doing_: Dredging up old memories of her abandonment, their mutual betrayal. It made her seem terrifying, and the thought of entering that gray little cell next to impossible. He'd promised that after Herschel changed her bandages he would go in and talk, keep her company… and now he was considering something only a cowardly man would…

"Psst… hey kid." Daryl nodded toward Sarah, perched with her legs tucked underneath her on top of a metal picnic table. She gave him a funny look, cocking her head and narrowing her eyes. "Come're, will ya?"

"My name's Sarah," She announced grumpily. "Not 'kid'." But she hopped down off the table and sauntered over to him anyway. "You're name's Daryl. Hi Daryl." She held out her hand for him to shake. After he obliged she nodded at him. "Now you ain't got an excuse for callin' me that again, see, we been formally introduced. So try and remember, cuz it ain't that hard. _Sarah."_

Wow, total wise ass… Em must have taught her a thing or two before she passed on. Even Eli didn't have a tongue that sharp. "Fine, my deepest apologies _Sarah."_

She smirked at him. "Now what do you want?"

He felt his palms go sweaty, nerve endings beginning to pulse like electrical wire. "Yer' aunt wanted me to go in there after Herschel helps her out, to… well talk or something I suppose."

Sarah just looked at him with strange eyes as he struggled to continue. "Uh huh…. And?"

"Well I got this hunt I gotta go on, takin' Carl with me, teachin' him a thing or two. We had this scheduled and we're already overdue by a couple days cuz a' everythin'… I was just hopin' maybe ya could tell Eli that I'll catch up with her later?"

"Why can't you tell her yerself?" She grinned at him meanly. "You scared a' her or somethin'?"

Daryl sighed impatiently, deciding that whatever demons were going to flip flop in his stomach at the sight of Eli were much better than being made fun of by a preteen with a smart mouth. "No I ain't _scared _a' her, just thinkin' it'd be better comin' from ya. Tryin' to look out for _her… _but if it's that big of a problem then I got it little one, no problem." He shooed her away with a dismissive flick of the wrist. "Go on now, get outta here."

She rolled her eyes at him. "Go on yer' 'huntin' trip." She put air quotes around the word hunting. "I'll tell her."

Daryl nodded at her, a simple thank you, ashamed of the relief that flooded his body as the girl wandered into the cell block.

_**Eli…**_

"I dunno Auntie, that's just what he said. Said he was takin' Carl huntin'." Sarah shrugged, moving her eyes away from Eli's quickly, like if she stared too long her Aunt would look straight through the lie to the truth.

"Yeah, I'm sure." She couldn't hide her disappointment as she struggled to sit back down on her mattress. Suddenly she hated the smell in there. Stale, putrid… it was making her want to vomit. "I've got to get some air. Let me by."

Eli tried to hide her face from her niece but Sarah was a bit too smart for that. After all, she'd known Eli her whole life. Knew her inside and out. Eli had never been able to keep secrets from her sister, Emilie, and it seems that Em had passed that trait on to her daughter. Eli found it impossible to lie to Sarah's big brown eyes. Guilt would settle in immediately, and Sarah could sniff out guilt like a hound dog.

"What's the matter with ya?" Sarah followed Eli as she hobbled out into the openness of the kitchen. The ceilings were taller, it made her feel a little less closed in. She took in a deep breath, noting that the air didn't smell so stale anymore. "Can't ya just talk to him tomorrow?"

"Of course I can Sarah, it's nothin'… just go find somethin' to do… leave me be for a few minutes? Please?"

Sarah frowned, hurt in her eyes. "Fine, but there ain't nothin' to do here. I'm so _bored."_

"Go hunting."

"They won't let me leave." She crossed her arms over her chest like a spoiled child. But Eli had to admit, she was having a hard time not seeing the kid's point. They'd been outside these gates for quite a long time, fending for themselves, protecting what was theirs. The only reason they were even in a predicament like this is because Eli had trusted other people… people could _never _be trusted. Not even Daryl. Not in this world. _Can't even come in and tell me himself, has to send a thirteen year old… _She thought bitterly. Why _shouldn't _Sarah go off and cure her boredom, like she'd done a hundred times before, with her hunting knife and bow and arrow set? Who were these people to tell them anything different?

"Okay, well no worries on that. I'll go talk to that sheriff guy now. He's in charge right? Doesn't it seem that way?"

Sarah nodded, hope dancing across her face. "Yeah, he's Carl's daddy. Real nice… seems a little weird… but nice just the same."

"Okay well I'm gonna go talk to Rick, you'll be hunting in no time."

_**Daryl…**_

It was her. Limping and dragging her leg, but he could still tell it was her all the way down from the front gates. _What is she doin'?_ She was storming, as much as she could, straight for him, Rick and Glenn.

"Hey man, that girl is headed right for us." Glenn motioned over and Daryl pretended to see her for the first time.

"Yep, sure is." He spoke quietly.

Glenn looked at him and Rick, back and forth, eyes moving quickly and confused as ever. "Shouldn't one of us go… help her or something?" He looked right at Daryl. "She's struggling, can't you go help her head this way?"

His stomach tightened as he ran a hand across his face. He glanced back up at her for just a moment before looking back to Glenn. "Sure, I got it." He headed in her direction and couldn't help but notice that she slowed. Once she knew Daryl was going to help her she stopped walking too hard and moved slower. Something pulled in his chest at the sight of it… he'd forgotten this feeling… what is was to be needed by _her._ Eli didn't need anyone, or at least she'd _tell you that _until the sun set and the birds stopped singing, but she _needed _Daryl. He'd forgotten this feeling… this exceptional feeling. He was significant again.

His hand found her elbow, and he felt Eli's weight move from her own body entirely to leaning on him just a bit. Stopping to take some of the pressure off her left leg, Eli bent down to run her hand over her thigh, massaging the muscle. "Thanks… hurts a bit." Her voice sounded like a whisper. The kind she used to speak back when no one could hear her voice but him. Daryl didn't understand what was happening as he watched her, holding her up by the arm, steady as a rock. Her strawberry curls framed her perfect face, scars and dirt included. Daryl wanted more than anything in that moment for her to look up at him. Show him her sea green eyes. _Show them to me… please…_ He thought this with his whole heart. What is this… he didn't get it. It had been so long since he'd seen her up close… felt her hand on his arm, her hair tickling all the skin it touched. Had it always been this way? The way she made him feel?

_No._ He thought. _Just after I kissed her. That's when it all went to shit._

"I have to talk to your friend." Eli straightened up and pointed to Rick. Her face was a little contorted, probably the pain in her leg or her forehead… or anywhere else that bastard had hit her. "Could you just… help me down to them please? I can make it back up on my own. It's not bad moving up as it is with the down, ya know what I mean?"

Daryl held a smile in. She sounded so funny when she was attempting small talk, unnatural. She'd always been terrible at parties with people she didn't know, so awkward. It was another trait on a list that they shared. An actual list. He wondered what had happened to that weathered piece of legal paper. Their collective handwriting scribbled all over it, impossible to understand except by either of them. Inside jokes and secrets they'd shared, lies they'd told to everyone else. She used to keep it in her jewelry box at home. He hadn't seen it in over a decade.

He remembered she liked to change her handwriting a lot. She was always trying to be somebody else.

"Alright, just hold on to me here," He moved her arm, placing it over his own, which quickly wrapped around her waist. Eli's skin under her tank top felt warm. Daryl wondered what his hands felt like against her hip. Hopefully not too rough. "Okay, ya ready?"

She grinned at the dirt beneath their feet. "Sure, thanks."

They made their way down to Glenn and Rick. If Daryl didn't know better he'd swear on his life he heard a slight, _really slight_, laugh emitting from Eli's rosebud mouth. You almost couldn't hear it, barely audible, but _he'd _heard it. Daryl was always listening like no one else was.

_**Eli…**_

She had to shake him out of her body, keep his fingertips from seeping into her bloodstream and staying there, just by grazing her hip bone. _This is ridiculous, I'm not fucking sixteen… get it together… what are you doing?_ Shit, even 'pep-talking' herself wasn't working. Her cheeks were hot, an involuntary smile painted on her lips as she held her hand out to Rick's.

"My name's Eli. You're Rick. It's nice to meet you."

He gave her the same strange look that most new people did. She didn't blame them… she _was_ a little weird. Rick took her hand and shook it firmly. "Nice to meet ya. Figured you'd be stayin' in the cell block for the next coupla' days Eli. You got a lot of mendin' to do, after all." He motioned down to her leg. Daryl still held his arm rigidly to his side after he'd let her go, waiting, just in case she lost strength or balance.

She was tempted to lose either of them on purpose… just to feel his hand on her hip again. "I wouldn't worry, I'm gonna head right back up, I just had to come talk to you for a minute."

Rick pointed his index finger to his own chest, looking at her quizzically. "Me?"

"Yes." She nodded, hands on her hips. "Did you tell my niece she wasn't allowed to leave the grounds? Of this prison?" She motioned around her with palms open and facing the earth. "Did you tell her she… well that she _couldn't?_"

Rick nodded in a matter-of-fact kind of way. "Well sure I did, she was up at six in the morning, ready to wander off on her own." His gaze turned judgmental as he watched her study his face. "I don't know how ya'll do things, but we don't let children roam around unattended before the sun even rolls over the hills of Georgia."

Eli's hands remained on her hips. She contemplated this thought, stirring it around in her head. After a minute or so of silence she turned back toward the cell block. "Okay, I understand." Eli faced her body toward the Sheriff again, Daryl completely shaken out of her veins and only the man with the eye patch and iron fist remained. "Last time this happened though…" She pointed to the men around her, Daryl included, "Last time I trusted others in even a fraction of a way, well, I ended up tied to a chair and beaten half to death." She turned back to the prison, Sarah in her eyes. She was up on the picnic table with Carl, they were studying something that Sarah had in the palms of her hands, probably some frog or lizard or something. She was always catching things. "So if it's all the same to you, to all of you, when I'm done healing up she and I are gonna get on our way."

She heard Daryl shift around next to her, the dried up leaves crinkling under his boots.

"That seems a bit drastic, don't you think?" Rick had his arms crossed over his chest now, trying to understand just what she was thinking. Eli thought with satisfaction that she was still unreadable most of the time. It was one of those moments that brought you a selfish kind of peace. She welcomed it just the same.

"No, it doesn't. Not to me." Eli brought her eyes up and looked at each of them. "I'm not crazy, I'm just thinking of my well-being, and the well-being of my niece."

"Bullshit."

It was an angry spurt of language, Eli could feel the exasperation coming of a Daryl like a toxin. "What?" She shot back quietly… she didn't want to argue with him about this.

"You feel trapped." He shook his head and laughed in a bitter kind of way. She watched him take a few steps away from them all, putting his hands behind his head and locking her eyes with his. "This is what you do when you feel trapped, Eli… you run." He shook his head at Rick and Glenn, beginning to turn back toward the prison walls. "Don't bother guys, you ain't gonna change her mind. Just let her do what she wants. She'll burn ya alive if ya don't."

His words were like razor blades, and she didn't have anything nearly as sharp to fight back with. She was unarmed when it came to Daryl. He was right after all, in his own small way, he was right. Eli was going to do what she wanted, no matter what she owed to whom, she was going to do what she felt was right. And in that moment Rick didn't look any different than the Governor, and all she could feel were fists smashing against her face. All she could smell was that dungeon she was trapped in… all she could see was Sarah, tied up, crying out for anyone that could hear her.

Daryl was almost all the way back up to the south tower before anyone spoke. Glenn seemed like such a nice guy, she had to give it to him. Really sweet, that's all she saw when she looked at Glenn. "You sure, Eli? I mean we got shelter, food, medicine… are you _sure?"_

She nodded at him and looked right a Rick when she continued. "I'm sure."

_**Daryl…**_

He was at the top of the stairs, watching everyone mill about, eyeing Herschel and Beth as they stepped out of Eli's cell. Sarah said something unreachable as she smiled up at Beth. Herschel laughed, and the girls followed suit. It looked like something out of a painting or a book or something that just didn't exist in this world anymore. Daryl couldn't help but feel jealous… he was almost paying too much attention to that envy in his gut to notice when was left alone.

Sarah hadn't entered the cell yet, but Herschel and Beth walked away to attend to one thing or another. Daryl's feet moved quickly and quietly down the stairs, and before either of them knew it he was standing directly in front of the young girl. He felt bad as she jumped backward, knowing he'd startled her.

"Jesus!" She closed her eyes in frustration. "Ya scared me!" Sarah hissed at him and he shrugged apologetically.

"Sorry, I just…" He was stumbling over his words. "I just wanted to ask a favor of you."

Her eyes turned to slits as she glared at him. "Another message delivery? Forget it, do it yerself."

"Nah, that's not it." Daryl shoved his hands in his pockets, trying to keep his voice low as he continued. "Listen, if I tell ya something will ya just not let on that you know?"

She shifted her weight from foot to foot. "You mean 'don't tell Eli' right?"

He nodded.

Sarah looked at the heavy dark blanket covering the door to her cell. Daryl wondered, like Sarah was wondering at that very moment, whether Eli was listening. How much she heard, if any, and why she hadn't burst in pulling Sarah away… if she had heard any of it that is. "What is it Daryl?"

"She tell ya that she's takin' ya both away when she's better?" Daryl watched Sarah's face and noted a blink of shock. He could see it plain as day, no matter how quick it flashed on and off. She looked like Emilie when she was worried… her brow furrowed in the same way.

"Well she is." Daryl stated simply before Sarah had the chance to answer with a lie. "She's gonna let herself get a bit better, than yer both gone again. Livin' however you lived before Woodbury."

His hands and his feet started to tingle, like they were numb, all pins and needles. The last time this overtook him he was only 20 years old. Barely an adult legally but doing the best he could all the same. He was so nervous then, just as he was now… and all he wanted was for Sarah to listen and know he was honest with what he said. He wasn't lying, and it meant _so much _that she know that. She had to know above all else, Daryl Dixon was not lying to get what he wanted. He wanted to help them both.

Daryl lowered to his knees, Sarah's eyes still transfixed on the blanket, tears beginning to make their way down her cheeks. He couldn't hear anything but the young girls breathing as he reached out, gently taking Sarah's hand. He thought for sure she would jerk hers away, flinch, anything… but it was limp as spaghetti. Something had her so scared that even her muscles weren't responding the way they should. "If that's what you want Sarah, if that's what you both want, me and my people will not stand in yer way."

Sarah squeezed her eyes shut, lips pressing together as she held in her cries. Eli used to make that same face… when something hurt so bad she couldn't describe… she'd pull it in and keep it there… letting it eat her alive. Daryl shook Sarah's hand, waking her from the self-destructive slumber she was about to delve into. "Is it Sarah? Is that what you want… for you both to be away from here? Ya gotta tell me, because no matter what ya say, I'll help ya get what ya want. I want to help you, Sarah, I owe ya that much."

Her eyes darted to him, swollen and red and silent. "What do you _mean_, you _owe_ me?"

It was his turn to look away and lock it up. "I know you don't remember me, but I knew your aunt a long time ago."

"I _know that _Daryl."

"And your mother."

Nothing. A pin could drop and you would have heard it a mile away. Sarah pulled her hand from his slowly and stepped backward until her back was pressed against the wall. Daryl couldn't hear Eli in her cell… maybe she really wasn't listening. Maybe she was in her bunk, sleeping as she should.

Or maybe she was just holding her breath.

"You don't know _anything _about my mother." Denial was thick in the girl's voice, so much so you could tell it was tied to a string wrapped around her heart. "Don't you ever talk about her, okay? Not ever, not once."

"I'm tryin' to _help you."_ Sadness crept into his voice, he couldn't help it. He was suddenly so god damn sad he could cry. Emilie's large blue eyes were ripping into his mind… the way they watched him with tentative acceptance when he held her sister's hand. Her eyes the first day she'd handed Sarah over, swaddled in a homemade baby blanket. Sarah was rubbing her tiny mouth with the back of her miniscule hand, and Daryl had never been more frightened of hurting anything in his entire life… she was so fragile it scared him… but then she smiled up at him, and they were sold. Emilie, Eli, Daryl… this little baby… they were all sold on the idea that he'd be her uncle one day. They'd never spoken these words aloud of course, but all of them knew that day she handed him the baby in the fresh blanket… Daryl would always take care of them. Always. "Is it what you want, Sarah? To go away from here? To never come back?"

Her whole body shook as she cried and fell onto him, leaning her small body on his shoulders. "No… help me Daryl. Help me change her mind."

_**Eli…**_

There was no use. She'd heard it all, the whole thing, the entire wretched, heart-felt, emotionally exhausting exchange… and she couldn't do a god damn thing to change it. Eli had no game plan, no idea of what to say or think or feel, when Daryl stepped into that cell. She was seated on her bunk, elbows on her knees and head hung in the darkness.

"Want me to turn on the lantern?" His voice was small and careful. He knew that she'd been listening.

"Is Sarah gone?" She was speaking just as quietly as Daryl reached over, turning the lantern on without her specific invitation. Typical of him to ask her a question and do what he thought she'd want without even waiting for her response. It was a shame that he was right most of the time, if he wasn't she'd have a reason to argue with him over this annoyance, this trait she'd always found to aggravating. She was unreadable, right? Then how come this boy from down the road always knew how to read her? From the day she wandered down that classroom aisle when she was eight, he'd seen right through her.

His face glowed orange as his back slid down the wall. "Yeah, she's outside with Carl and Rick."

"Carl and Rick." She repeated with distaste on her tongue.

"You don't know them Eli, they're good people."

"Oh yeah? Guess I should just take your word for it huh?"

He shifted uncomfortably, holding back the displeasure in his voice as much as he could. "Yes, you should. Ya should take my word for it. And you should also think 'Hey, these people saved my life'… ya know? Like, think about it Eli; that man you don't trust? He risked his _life _searching those halls for Sarah. While Maggie and I popped yer shoulder back into place and made sure you were still breathin', for Christ' sake."

She didn't know what to say. He was still one of the only people on this planet that could do that. She imagined with conditions the way they were now that the number was exponentially smaller than it used to be. "Alright. Say I _do _take yer word for it… suppose I _do _choose to trust you… what am I even in for?"

Daryl knew what she was talking about before she finished her sentence. "I don't know, we don't know… we just don't."

"That man is capable of so much damage, people like you and Sarah would just be collateral when he decided to drop a bomb on me, and you know that right?" Her voice was thin and stretched, like a piece of parchment paper.

"That doesn't matter." Daryl stood suddenly, his shadow swallowing her whole presence. When she looked up all she could see were the blues of his eyes. "I'm gonna make this better, take care of ya… no matter what happened-"

His voice caught on words neither of them would speak. "It's okay Daryl-", she began.

"I meant 'happens'… is what I meant to say." He stuttered, moving backward out of her cell a couple of steps. "Happens… no matter what _happens."_

She stood quickly, before he could slink away, and grasped a hold of his hands. "Daryl… no matter what _happens…_ I understand. Okay?"

He didn't say a word as he walked out of her room, taking a piece of her with him. When he left his smell was still on her hands, his blue eyes still fixed in her mind. Whenever Daryl left, he'd take a piece and leave a piece and Eli would just fit them in when the time was right… like some giant jigsaw puzzle she was always left on her own to figure out. It'd be so much easier with a partner, a teammate, someone to help guide you when your own light has gone out.


End file.
